I've Got You
by xxxCheesecakee
Summary: "But...now I'm not scared anymore, because I have you." My name's Adeline Griffith, and I'm a Pulse l'Cie. HopexOC
1. The Meeting

**A/N:** Hello to whoever is reading this! Well so I wrote my oneshot a few days ago, and after getting a little inspiration I decided that YES I will write a whole chapter story thing. Most of the story is going to be from Adeline's POV because I feel that you will get a better idea of her personality as the story progresses this way, but that's just the plan right now. It could change....so yay cool beans! My first try at a whole story like this, so I hope you guys will like it :)

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**I've Got You**

**Chapter 1: The Meeting**

"It's...over..."

I couldn't move any part of my body.I was scared. I was weak. I was....going to die. Six PSICOM soldiers were all about to finish me off at once. At least I made it this far...right?

Oh, forgive me. My name's Adeline Griffith, and I am a l'Cie. In just a few seconds I'm pretty much about to die because of it. Yeah, being a l'Cie is kind of like being the only lion in a field of just deers. A threat. The thing that should be exterminated immediately. Not the best thing to be at this moment, if you're catching my drift right now.

My eyes scanned the area for my faithful sword-whip. I saw it. About three feet behind one of the PSICOM soldiers that surrounded me. _Damnit._ I couldn't reach it.

"Say, should we just take this one back to the airship?" questioned one of the soldiers.

"I don't think so. This one's a little fiesty if you ask me. Let's just kill it and get out of here." said another one as he pointed his gun at me. The rest followed his move.

Well...I guess this is it.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa I don't think so! Have no fear, your hero is here!" a loud booming voice yelled. Next thing I knew, I saw the PSICOMs getting beat up by an incredibly tall man with blond hair and a black bandana. His only weapon was his bare fists, pretty impressive if you ask me. There was also a young women about his age with light pink hair, wielding a gun-blade and slashing off the other soldiers. Now _that _was awesome! Only the most skilled soldiers use gun-blades. But wait...why were they helping me? I'm a l'Cie.....

Then I took a closer look at the blonde haired guy. There it was! A l'Cie mark on his left arm. I looked at my right hand where my mark was. They were the same. So he's a l'Cie too.... I looked at the pink haired lady, but I couldn't find her mark. Was she a l'Cie too? Well...I guess I'll find out later.

The two finished off the PSICOMs, and one by one fell to the ground lifeless.

"Heh, not bad sis!" the blonde haired guy said in a cheery tone.

The pinked haired lady narrowed her icy blue eyes at him as if they were daggers, "Do not call me _sis_. I am not nor ever will be your sister." she said rather coldly.

"Alright, whatever you say, _sis._" He said chuckling as she groaned in annoyance. He then finally took notice of me. "Oh whoops forget about you for a minute there! You okay?" He asked me. "I believe this is yours." He said handing me back my sword-whip. I smiled and took my whip. He reminded me of my older brother, Brice. Cheerful and laid back even in the most horrible situations. Man, I miss him....

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you so much for helping me out there! I don't know how I could ever thank you two." I said, bowing as I noticed they were both clearly older than me.

"Don't sweat it! I'm just doing my job. Being a hero and all you know?" Oh _nice._ Hero with an ego. Yup, definitely like Brice.

I smiled once again, "I'm Adeline, and I'm grateful to have met you and your....um sister?" I said kind of confused not sure what to call the pink haired lady. She gave me a look. Yeah okay...I'm guessing they really aren't related. Great I just made things akward. Smoooth.

"Snow Villiers! And that over there is my future sister-in-law, Lightning." He snickered.

"I am _not_ your sister!" she yelled. Lightning....not the kind of person anyone should mess with from what it seems.

"Okay okay fine _Light_." He then looked at my hand. "So you're a l'Cie too huh?"

"Yeah...but I'm not exatly sure what my focus is. I don't even know how or why I became one." It was true. One day I just woke up. Next thing I knew I was a l'Cie being hunted down by everyone.

Just when Snow was about to reply, he was interrupted by someone.

"Heeey! There you guys are!" said a voice with a distinct Australian accent. The voice came from a young girl. A little older than me. I'd say she's about 19? Probably... She had red hair tied up in curly pigtails and her outfit....looks a little tribal, but nonetheless she was adorable. Behind her were two other guys. One was a tall black man with a noticeable afro and....and...a Chocobo chick _inside_ is hair? Umm...okay. Cute, but than again a little odd. The other one was a boy about my age. He had silvery blonde hair and light green eyes.

His eyes were so....mesmerizing. Well hey, I'm not going to lie. He is pretty cute. Okay....more like insanely amazingly cute! Yeah...I'm such a girl sometimes.

"About time you guys caught up! Looks we've got _three_ kids to take care of now." Snow said as he noogied me, messing up my hair! I gave a small pout. I was _not _a kid. I was a teenager! I mean hello, I'm four_teen _years old.

"Oh, well hello! My name's Vanille! And you are?" The perky red-head girl asked me with her big curious eyes and a friendly smile.

"Adeline, nice to meet you."

"Likewise! I'm sure we'll get along just fine!" She said happily as she grabbed my hand and started to drag me towards the two guys. She then pushed me infront of them. Luckily I could get my balance before I was close to falling on my face.

"Well, don't be shy now! Why don't you to introduce yourselves!" Vanille said.

"Oh alright!" said the afro guy. "Sazh is the name, pleasure to meet you." Just then, his little Chocobo chick popped right out of his hair and started chirping. "Oh and of course this little guy right here is my Chocobo. Don't be afraid now, he's a friendly one." I laughed a little as the Chocobo went right back into his hair.

The silver haired boy didn't say anything. His head was down, probably not even acknowledging me as he looked lost in thought. I just akwardly stood there. Should I just introduce myself first? I was about to say something until Vanille snook up behind him.

"Go on, say something to her!" she said as she pushed him closer towards me. Once he regained his balance, his head was still down. Shyly he looked up to me and finally spoke, "My name's Hope." he said almost in a whisper. He looked back down, his eyes seemed....sad.

I gave him a wide smile, "Hope, huh? Well that's a cute name." I said. Oh...shoot I didn't mean to say that out loud. He looked up at me again and blushed. Great now I just made things awkward. Quick Adeline just try and change the subject! "Uh well it's nice to meet you!" I said quickly as a extended my hand towards him. Wow I am smoooth.

"Um...yeah it's nice to meet you too." He said giving me a slight smile. He had an _amazing_ smile. Even though it was barely a smile...it was...nice.

"Alright! So now we all know each other. Let's go and catch up with the others!" Vanille said ever so cheerfully. She grabbed both dragged both of us and ran as we followed her (as if we had a choice).

Just a feeling, but this is going to be one heck of an adventure.

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**A/N:** Yay! I did my first chapter. I feel proud haha :) Oh btw this is at Lake Bresha if anyone was wondering. I'll try to update as soon as I'm able too! School keeps me unfortunately pretty busy, but don't worry I'll make time I promise :) I would love to here y'alls (yeah I'm Texan xD) reviews, so don't be shy!


	2. Snakes

Heheh okay so apparently I just have no life, SO I decided oh why not I'll just update this now! Well I'm glad to know that there are people reading this, it really does mean a lot to me so thank y'all :) Oh and to answer someone's question...

LadyZaidey - Well my plan is to follow the game's storyline, but I'm just tweaking it a little to fit Adeline into it. But I'm definitely going to try and stick to the main thing.

Oh! And you did bring up a good question that people are probably wondering what Adeline looks like and stuff.

Well her appearance will be mentioned whenever I can find a good way to squeeze it in, but in case you really want to know I'll put up a little description on my profile, or you all can check out my oneshot where her appearance is briefly described there :)

So y'all enjoy chapter 2 :)

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**I've Got You**

**Chapter 2: Snakes**

So we're walking, we're walking, ...we're walking. And, um, yeah that's pretty much what we've been doing for the past two and a half hours around this place that's been completely crystalized. Lake Bresha I believe is the name? Yeah, I've heard about this place before. My family and I were planning to go here one day. Well, of course it never happened because....well just forget about it.

I then just suddenly realized something. Why am I following these people again? Ohh yeah because I was forcibly dragged by the not-so-innocent-as-she-looks Vanille. Not to mention I kind of owe it to Snow and Lightning for saving me, so I'll probably be safe if I stick with them. But...where are we headed to? Well no one's talking. No one has been for like the past two hours. Not even Vanille, now that's a shocker. I guess I might as well just start up a conversation....I guess.

"So uhh where exactly are we going?" I spoke up.

Snow was the first to speak up (no surprise there), "We're going to defeat Ragnarok, of course!"

"...Ragnarok?" Wait a second, the fal'Cie?

"Bingo! All of us. It's the reason we became l'Cie. To stop it-to keep Cocoon safe!"

"Yeah? Well why don't you give us one reason to believe that." Sazh pointed out.

"Serah." Snow simply said. Serah? "Who's Serah?" I asked.

He gave a happy smile. "My future-wife-to-be....and Lightning's sister." Ahh so that's why he keeps calling her "sis." "She was a l'Cie, and then she turned into crystal. That's proof right there that she completed her focus. Which means we have to save Cocoon."

"Here he goes again." mumbled Lightning.

Before Snow could talk again, Vanille took notice of something.

"Oh no...the train fell too. I wonder what else is down here." she said as we all saw the broken train. It seemed to make a bridge for us to get to the other side. Just our luck...I think? We just kept walking down, until Lightning stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide. I look up to see what she was staring at. It was a girl. Every single part of her was crystalized.

"Serah...." Lightning whispered. So that's Serah... Completely crystal, yet she looks so peaceful. Is that what will happen to us? If we complete our focus, that is.

"Serah!" Yelled Snow as he rushed over to her. He took a moment to look at her and grabbed her cold hand. "I'll get you out of there." He said while reaching over for a sharp stick-like object on the ground and slammed it as hard as he could to break her free.

"We'll help! Won't we?" Vanille looked back at us with those big eyes that you couldn't possibly say no to. Sazh sighed, giving in as he picked up a stick and started helping Snow. That left just me, Hope, and Lightning. I looked at the other two. Both just standing there. Lightning was still looking at her sister...guess she's just in shock still, maybe? Hope...just stood there. Looking angrily a little at Snow. Hm, what happened between those two? Well, I guess he's not going to help. Which just left me. I looked back at Vanille still standing infront of me with two metal sticks in her hand. Guess I have no choice. I grabbed one from her as she smiled at me. We both went over, stabbing at the crystalized Serah, trying to break her free. It was no use, not even a single crack, but we still kept on trying.

"This is good-bye.." I heard Lightning say. Next thing I knew I heard footsteps walking the other way.

"Lightning? You're just going to leave her?" said Snow.

"PSICOM soldiers are going to be here soon. If they find us, we're all dead." She said simply.

"No one's going to die. Anything they throw at us, I can handle it. We'll be fine." he said rather confidently. What do you know...another Brice moment right there. "I'll protect Serah and Cocoon."

She stopped. Then walked straight up to Snow and gave him a good punch in the jaw. I could hear Vanille gasp as my own eyes widened. Lightning was pissed, and you could easily tell.

"Does she look protected to you?" she yelled. Yeah...she was furious right now.

"I can save her!" He said getting up, only to be punched back down again.

"What can _you_ possibly do!?"

"Whatever it takes." He didn't get up this time. He was expecting her to just punch him for the third time.

But she didn't. Slowly her fist went down, not making any eye contact with anyone.

Sazh sighed. "You two are hopeless. You just can't admit it, but you want to stay just as much as he does." he said. Lightning said nothing. Snow said nothing. It was silent once again. Then we saw lights moving around back and forth until it landed on Sazh.

"Oh no...no! Not now." He groaned. The source of light was coming closer. The ground was rumbling. Then before I knew it. It jumped right infront of us. It was a giant, robot looking snake. Lightning grabbed her gun-blade and charged straight towards it with Snow and Sazh following behind her. I was just standing there, backing away slowly out of fear_. Oh come on Adeline! You should go there and help them, it's no big! _I kept on trying to tell myself, but let's face it. I couldn't stand snakes, especially huge giant robot ones that can kill you in one hit. Ughh....why must I be cursed with the fear of snakes....and drowning in water?

Vanille took notice of this and grabbed my wrist. "It's okay! Just leave it to me and the others!" she said while pushing me right into Hope. I was about to fall, but thankfully he caught me. Aww my hero...well kind of. He was just as terrified as I was. Actually, he's been kind of scared of pretty much everything so far. "You take care of her, okay?" she said directing her question (more of an order) to him. He nodded. She gave us a quick smile as she ran off to the snake thing, pulling out this weird rod looking thing.

We both just stood there as we watched the others fight. I felt...kind of guilty. I could be out there helping them, but I choose to let my fear get the best of me. Not even noticing, my body was beginning to shake a little. I guess I was really scared. I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch them get hurt. I then felt something grab my hand. I opened my eyes. It was Hope's gloved hand holding mine. I looked up at him, but he was just looking the other way. I blushed a little bit. How sweet...

"Thanks, Hope." I said quietly, not really knowing what else to say.

He looked back at me. "Y-you're welcome." he said quickly. He then looked back the other way slightly embarassed. I smiled. I stopped shaking, and for some reason, I wasn't scared anymore.

I looked up as I saw Lightning finish the giant snake with one final blow from her gun-blade. The snake fell down to the ground. It was finished. Lightning took a step forward and continued to walk until Snow stopped right infront of her.

"You're leaving?" he asked in disbelief.

"We want to help Serah too." Sazh spoke up. "But without tools...we could be digging for days. The army's on our trail, so for now, we've got to keep moving." he tried reasoning with Snow.

"So you're saying we should just leave her here?" Snow said, his voice rising after every word.

"What about completing your Focus? So now you want to forget about it all and die right here." Lightning spat out. Snow looked down, saying nothing.

Lightning grunted, looking at him like he was the most pathetic thing on this world. "Snow...you're nothing but talk." she said, walking straight past him.

"Lightning..." he started to speak. She stopped, not taking a single look back. "I'll do whatever it takes. I'm going to finish this Focus _and_ keep Serah safe....that's my promise."

Still not looking back, she spoke, "Great job so far." She continued to walk straight ahead. Sazh was next to follow, giving Snow a small pat on the shoulder telling him to stay out of trouble. He then took a look at me, Hope, and Vanille. "Go on, get going." he said gesturing to follow Sazh and Lightning. Vanille went ahead. I followed, but then stopped and looked at Snow. I didn't want to leave him just like I left Brice....

"You're sure you'll be alright?" I asked, trying to hide my worried tone.

He gave me a wide smile. "I'm positive."

I smiled back and walked. I kept walking until I realized that Hope was still behind. I looked back to see Snow telling him something while patting him on the back. He started walking, leaving Snow behind as he went back to trying to get Serah out of her crystal form.

He looked up at me surprised I was standing there waiting for him. That doesn't make me look like a stalker...does it? No! No it does not....hopefully he doesn't think that!

"Uhh...we better go and catch up with the rest." I said.

He nodded. "Yeah...let's go." he said walking as I followed him. He seemed...a little down. Like downer than usual. Did something happen between him and Snow just a few minutes ago? His head was down. Hmm...I was never good a making people feel better. So I just...did the same thing he did to make me feel better. Slowly I reached for his hand and grabbed it. I heard him give out a small gasp. Oh great maybe I shouldn't have done that. Just as I was about to let go his fingers intertwined with mine. I blushed...again. Keep it cool, Adeline.

We continued to talk, and he was still holding my hand. It was really...nice.

Hm, this day just got better.

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Whoop whoop chapter 2 complete! Ehh not my best, but hey I was bored and had nothing else to do! I'll make the next one a lot better, pinky swear :) Unfortunately my next update will probably be Thursday because of school -___- But hey you never know! If I have free time I'll try and make an update!


	3. My Hero?

Awww my reviewers are such sweethearts :) Thanks once again for all your sweet comments on this, you all rock! I've actually been trying to draw Adeline, but I can't ever get the eyes right when it comes to drawing people xD Haha so bear with me on that, I'll just put a description of her on my profile now. It has been such a busy week at school, but thankfully I get a three-day weekend thank goodness!

BTW Adeline's weapon looks similar to Ivy's weapon (she's from Soul Calibur). If you haven't played that game, totally recommend getting it! But yeah so her sword-whip (for those who don't know) is like pretty much what it is. A sword that turns into a whip, though Adeline's probably going to use it more as a whip.

Enjoy reading chapter 3 everybody3

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**I've Got You**

**Chapter 3: My Hero?**

"Seriously....is there any other way to get to the other side rather than this?" Sazh sighed reluctantly.

"Afraid not," replied Lightning, "stay behind for all I care." She slowly, but confidently started to walk on a super skinny tube. Wow. Is there anything that she's afraid of?

Another dilemma! How surprising..._not_. This day has been full of surprises. Almost dying, meeting all these other l'Cies, fightning a giant snake thing (well...technically I was watching everyone else fighting...), and now of course there's more! You see, there's this big skinny tube thing that is the only thing we can cross at the moment. When I mean skinny, I mean it. I don't mind it that much, actually. Yeah...I'm not afraid of heights, but I'm afraid of snakes...and drowning. I don't even know if that makes me sound brave or like a wimp....or both! At the same time! Nice.

"Okay, do not shake the slippery tube! We cool on this? DO NOT shake the slippery tube!" Sazh said, panicking a little as we all started to slowly cross the tube.

"It's only scary if you look down! You should close your eyes." Vanille replied cheerfully as ever. Even at situations like this, she was still full of her perkiness and what not. It's kind of nice to have someone like that, especially at times like this.

"Close my eyes? You must be crazy!" Sazh was totally panicking. It made me laugh a little. At first I thought he was your typical mature, responsible, strict adult. Wrong. Total opposite. He's probably the most carefree person I've ever met. However, he does have his moments of showing he really is a mature adult occasionally.

Whoops spaced out there for a minute. It was my turn to cross. Slowly and carefully I managed to walk on this steel cold tube without any problems. _Well, that wasn't so bad!_ I thought rather cheerfully. Whoa, wait a second. I just sounded like Vanille at that moment. Eh, so she's kind of grown onto me. I mean, it has been I while since I've hung out with one of my girl friends, and I'm pretty sure Vanille thinks of me as one considering the fact that she's always happy around everyone.

"Good job! You didn't look down once!" Speak of the devil. Vanille was jumping up and down out of excitement. There's probably never going to be a dull moment with her, I can bet.

"Come on, Hope! You better hurry or else we're going to leave you!" She teased. Oh, I almost forget he hasn't crossed yet. I saw him looking a little nervous at the intimidating tube.

Hope was a really shy person. Not to mention, he has a lot of fears. He's scared at....well everything it seems. I don't know what happened to him really. Maybe I could ask Vanille...should I? Meh, curiousity killed the cat.

"Hey Vanille...do you know why Hope always acts so...shy?" I asked

Vanille grinned playfully. "Hm? Do you like him or something?"

"W-what? No! I don't even know him! I was just curious..." I replied a little jumpy. She caught me off-guard, that's all. I just met him today anyways. Not even my type. I mean, he's scared of everything, way too quiet, and too innocent. _And cute._ Wait, no. Not cute...well not like really cute. Ugh I hate fighting with my concious!

Vanille giggled. "Calm down, I was just kidding! If you really want to know....." her smile turned into a slight frown...Vanille frowning. That just doesn't go togoether... "Poor kid. He was really shy when I first met him when all the Purgees in Bodhum were gathered. You see, there was an accident at the Hanging Edge...and his mom died there. So that's why he always looks a little down."

Oh, well that makes a lot of sense. Poor Hope...I guess he and his mom were really close. Me and my parents were never really close....little too late anyways. I saw him finally getting across the tube. I looked a little shaky, guess he was afraid of heights. No surprise there.

"Well about time you made it!" Vanille said smiling. "Let's go, we don't want to get left behind!" I looked to see Sazh and Lightning walking way ahead of us.

"Heeey! Wait up!" Vanille yelled grabbing my wrist and Hope's once again, dragging us with her.

For the rest of the walk I was kind of talking with Sazh a lot. He was a pretty cool guy, you know, for an old man. Haha, kidding, though I have been making fun of him since he's always wanting a break. Even is Chocobo agrees with me! Aww I love his Chocobo, he's so precious. Yeah...Sazh is an interesting guy! He really was getting a little tired though, so I just stopped talking to him for a while. I can be a little too talkative when I start, trust me. Soo....what to do...what to do. Talk to Lightning? ....No she seems a little too focused right now. Besides, she kind of scares me. I'm sure she means well and all, but you know...I'll just leave her alone for now. Okay....well there's Hope and Vanille? No...right now they're kind of talking quietly with each other. Actually, not that quiet. This is probably as quiet as Vanille could possibly be. Well....they won't know that I'm eavesdropping so.....

"Still couldn't talk to him?" Vanille said to Hope. Him? Wait...does she mean Snow? "You'll never get past this if you don't say anything."

"Words won't change anything." he said. "Next time we meet, he'll learn exactly how I feel."

Uhh yeah no clue what they're talking about. I'm just guessing they're talking about Snow probably. He does seem to get a little tense around him....but whatever! Huh? We stopped. I looked to see a broken part of an airship.

:"Looks operational." Lightning spoke. The next thing I knew she was jumping on top of it. She pulled out her gun-blade to give a good hit at the part where the guns fired. It started to shoot, breaking down a huge, crystalized wall that looked like it was blocking our path before. As it started to break, a group of Bloodfang Basses came hopping towards us. They didn't look so happy about the loud noise we they were on the brige, hopping and croaking loudly. Blocking our way. Challenging us. I saw Lightning taking out her gun-blade once again and Sazh getting his pair of pistols ready. Okay, this time I am soo ready to fight. Quikly, I took out my sword-whip.

Vanille looked at me excitedly. "Alright! It's about time you start using that!" As she took out her rod, I looked back at Hope, wondering if he was going to give it a shot. He looked frightened. Okay...nevermind. Vanille and I quickly rushed over to help out Lightning and Sazh. Nasty little things, though they weren't really as challenging as they seemed. I saw one jumping straight at me. Luckily, I managed to get my whip around it's neck, pulling hard so the blades on the whip would sink into it. After a few seconds, it fell to the ground. I actually got one! Yay.... Hm, I've been a l'Cie for quite a while now, but I haven't accidently tried to see what power I could possibly have. Was it possible to use magic? I guess I'm just going to have to find out next time.

We crossed the bridge. As we continued to walk, I decided just to look around. Everything here was complete crystal. It was kind of pretty in a way. Brice would've loved it....mom and dad would've too....I sighed. Too late. I shouldn't even be thinking of them right now. I already know there's nothing I can do about it anymore. We can never be that happy family I once wished for so much. Still living in Eden, happy, Brice....Ugh, snap out of it. Right now I have to think about finding out what my Focus is and completing it. Was it really what Snow said? To defeat Ragnarok, and to save Cocoon? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.

I snapped out of my thoughts once I realized we arrived at a ruined looking city. It was completely empty. Probably only monsters lurking around. Even the once burning flames were crystalized. What happened here?

As if he read my mind, Sazh sighed, "Even the flames turned in to crystals. This is ridiculous."

"Well, we might as well check this place out!" Vanille said. That's exactly what we did. This place was ridiculously huge. It's a shame most of it has been destroyed. It's got that place-with-a-super-ancient-history feeling to it. It was just amazing.

So we continued to walk around. Still quiet....goodness can't anyone just randomly start up a conversation here? I would...but I've been doing that wat too much ever since I decided to tag along with them.

As if it were just my lucky day, Vanille spoke up, "So Adeline, were at Bodhum that night the Pulse fal'Cie were discovered?"

"Um..yeah I was. I went there for vacation with my aunt and uncle. They were really looking forward to seeing the fireworks." It just occured to me, were my aunt and uncle alright? I haven't seen them since...that night I left. It was the best for both of them. It was bad enough they were going to have to be Purged, but what if the PSICOMs found out they had a l'Cie with them? I never even bothered to tell them. It's better that way, isn't it? They're probably worried sick about me though....but they'll be okay, hopefully.

"Hm, that's weird, I don't remember seeing you when all the Purgees were being grouped," Vanille said. "But that's pretty much every single person in Bodhum! So I guess we all got on a different train?"

"Yeah..that's probably it." I said. What Vanille didn't know is that...I never got on one of the trains. That night where everyone was to be boarding on a train the next morning, I tried to run away, but PSICOMs got me, threw me in their airship. The next thing I knew I was at Lake Bresha, still tied up in the airship while the PSICOMs were scouting the area. It was my chance to escape, so I managed to get myself untied with my sword-whip and ran. Now, I'm just following these other people who got turned into l'Cies. How much stuff can a fourteen year-old possibly go through in just three days?

Just then, we walked into this huge area part of the ruins. Incredibly breathtaking. There were huge, beautifully crafted pillars still standing all around us.

Vanille walked ahead, looking around this place in awe. She was excitedly zooming all around the area.

"Stay close." Lightning told Vanille.

Vanille turned around smiling. "I want to look around!" she said happily. Lightning sighed and rolled her eyes.

She didn't wander off too far. The rest of us just stayed and looked around a bit, taking all of the beauty in. Suddenly, we heared Vanille screaming and running back over to us, with a huge, bird-dragon like monster right behind her. It was a dark purple color with a bit of light blue. It's eyes were a piercing slight greenish white color. It's wings were thin, but huge. The most distinctive feature of it was probably it's huge pointy red horn and it's skinny light-blue tail.

Vanille hurriedly hid behind Sazh. The monster was right in front of us now. Not good. It gave out a loud roar, showing off all it's pointy teeth. Looks like it thinks we've invaded it's territory or something. Guess we have no choice but to fight it. I took out my sword-whip, everyone else following the action. I gave a surprised look at Hope, who took out some sort of boomerang. Well, he picked a really good time to start fighting now, because it looks like we're going to want all the help we need with this big dragon.

Sazh, with his new l'Cie powers spent the first part of the battle pretty much putting these veils around us which protected us a little bit from the dragon's big swings. While he was doing that, Lightning, Vanille, Hope, and I went all out offense. It took a while to get it weakened, but overall it wasn't that bad. The monster's wings were getting lower and lower by the minute. We were almost about to finish it. However, just as Lightning was about to take one final blow at it, it started to fly around in circles rapidly. We all back away slightly as it began to glow with a light blue aura around it.

"It's charging up." Lightning informed us all.

"Charging? What are you talking about? Charging for what?" A yet once again panicked Sazh asked. Oh Sazh....

"It's last moments." She said. Sazh took out his pistols. Looks like we're going all out on this. Even as we were all attacking it at once, it didn't look like it was taking as much of a hit as before. Then I wondered....what about our l'Cie powers? I didn't even know how to use them though, should I try. I snapped out of my thoughts once I heard Vanille yelling at me.

"Adeline! Look our!" She screamed. The dragon was flying straight towards me, ready to attack. I screamed. I closed my eyes and held my arms up, using them as my only protection. I heard a loud blow hitting the monster. I opened my arms and slowly put my arms down as I saw it backing away, trying to shake a few flames of fire off of it. I didn't do that do. I looked around and I saw Hope slowly putting his hands down. Even though it was covered up by his wristband, you could see is l'Cie mark glowing. So he was the one who pretty much saved me. I'm going to have to thank him later.

I used my whip to try to hold the dragon down. I wrapped it around it's neck trying to suffocate it while the blades restricted it from trying to make a move. Vanille also held it's body down with her rod and Lightning, Hope, and Sazh were finishing it off. A final shot from Sazh's pistols finished the big beast off. It fell to the ground, blood seeping everywhere on it. It tried to get up, but fell back down in defeat. Not making a single move anymore. It was dead.

We all were a little exhausted after all of that. Each and everyone one of us panting loudly, trying to regain our breath. Vanille, obviously the first one to become completely energized, ran over to the airship a few feet infront of us. Just our luck.

"Check it out!" she said excited as ever, pointing at the ship.

"Come on. Hop to it let's go!" Sazh said.

"You know how to fly this?" I asked.

He scratched the back of his head, "Sure do! But knowing our luck, it's probably missing an engine." he said jokingly.

Vanille frowned. "You shouldn't be so negative."

"And you shouldn't get your hopes up." he countered. She pouted as we all boarded the airship.

The ship looked rather cozy. Or maybe that's just me. Well, hey, I've been walking all day! I took a seat down and stretched tiredly. Hope taking the seat right across from me while Vanille and Lightning were in the front. Oh right...I should probably say thanks.

"Hey, Hope?" I said trying to get his attention. He looked at me. "Thanks for helping me back there. You've got to teach me how to do that sometime." I said giving him my happiest smile.

He look a little flustered. He tried hiding it...it wasn't working. I giggled. How cute. My giggling didn't really help that much since he started to blush a little. Then he finally spoke up, giving me a slight smile, "You're welcome. I..I'll try to teach you how do do that maybe sometime." I smiled.

"Okay guys! I might be a little rusty, but no worries!" Sazh said as ge started up the airship. We fkew straight up. Great. Other PSICOM ships were surrounding us.

"Hold on tight!" Sazh yelled as we sped up. Everyone including me was pretty much screaming the whole ride. Too much turning...way too much spinning. I was getting super dizzy. This was worse than any roller coster Ive been on for sure. For a second, it seemed like we got them off track. A bright light was shining straight at us. All eyes widened in awe.

"A Sanctun fal'Cie up close and personal." said Sazh. "Cocoon's own light in the sky."

We only had a few seconds to glance at it as two ships behind us were shooting.

"Fly in." Lightning commanded. "We'll lose them in there."

Sazh did as he was told and flew straight into the fal'Cie. The other ships behind us followed us in and exploded inside the Sanctum.

Sazh gave out a hearty chuckle. "Heh, I like this fal'Cie!"

Just then, out ship got hit pretty badly as it started falling down. All of us screaming....blacking out.

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Ohh snap cliffhanger! So next chapter will be where you find out Adeline's past. Yaaay. I promise if I have free time tomorrow I will definitely try and update, if not the day after tomorrow for sure :D So yeah tell me guys what you think! You know I love y'alls reviews so much, they make me the happiest person ever :)


	4. Opening Up

So like I'm in the mood to update because I had such a good day :) As I promised, the fourth chapter is going to reveal a lot of flashbacks of Adeline's past and such and such. Ohh and I'll throw in a little surprise for everyone in there ;) Heehee enjoy!

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**I've Got You**

**Chapter 4: Opening Up**

My eyes fluttered open. Ow...my head hurts, a lot. I looked around to check my new surroundings. This place was like a junkyard. Scraps of metals big and small were piled all over each other everywhere, making them look like mountains. Vile Peaks. After the war with Gran Pulse years ago, uneeded supplies were all just thrown away here. How do I know this? It took me forever to study for that test I had about Cocoon History! Yup, if you ever lived in Eden, you're kind of expected to know every single thing about Cocoon's history. That's kind of a challenge for me, however, considering the fact that I always fell asleep in class. So damn boring...

Oh right...I should check and see if everyone else is okay. I scanned the area only to find Hope lying down, still unconscious. Where was everyone else? I'm guessing we probably got separated after the huge explosion on our airship. Lovely... I walked over to Hope and shook him lightly.

"Hope...wake up." I said, still shaking him.

His eyes opened. He groaned as he started to get up, looking a little dizzy while he was trying to stand. Looked like he was about to fall back. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm probably going to make him all flustered and everything, but whatever. I took both of his hands to help him get his balance.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine...thanks." he replied, with a light blush on his cheeks. Mhmm I knew that was going to happen. Hope's way too cute. But that doesn't mean I like him or anything! ...Yet. Well, you know, it's a possibilty and uhhh...yeah okay. Well obviously Hope isn't going to start up a conversation, so I'm guessing I'll be calling the shots for now.

"Sooo....where do you think everyone else is?" I asked Hope.

"I don't know...guess we should go and find them." He said.

"Yeah..."

Our walk was pretty much silent the whole way. I have no clue what to say to him. Honestly, I felt so desperate that I was considering talking to the garbage....kidding. It was getting really...boring. I did have something in mind though...a game, but I'll have to see if Hope is willing to play. Oh well, I'll give it a shot...

"Truth or Dare?" Yes, I am this bored.

Hope gave me a weird look."What?" he asked in confusion.

I shrugged. "It's not like we have anything better to do...so let's just play a game!"

Hope grinned. _Hope_ grinned. I wasn't expecting that. _Oh...but it was kind of hot. _Shut up, Adeline! "Truth or Dare is such a kids game." he said.

I pouted, "Well....I'm bored! You've got anything better to do?"

He said nothing. Yeah that's right, thought so. He sighed in defeat. "...Truth" he said.

Now it was my turn to grin. "Okay...have you ever...been into the girls bathroom?" What? It was the first question to come into my mind.

Hope turned a little pink. "Uh...well, it was kind of an accident..."

My eyes widened with excitement. "Seriously? What happened?"

"Well...there was this one day my mom and I went to the mall. We were just getting ice cream and stuff...and she left me for a minute so I started to panic and look everywhere for her. And so, I walked into the girls bathroom and found her there while all these other girls were screaming and freaking out. B-but I was only four, so I didn't know you _had_ to be a girl...." He was like major blushing now! I tried to hold back my laughter, but that only lasted for three seconds until I started cracking up, making him blush even more.

"Hahaha...oh...I'm sorry Hope! You've got to admit though, that's pretty funny." I said while trying to surppress my laughter.

He chuckled. "I guess so." So playing Truth or Dare was a good idea after all! I managed to get Hope to talk more, _and _laugh. However, after a few seconds, he began to frown. Uh-oh...what did I do?

"I...I miss her." he said. He was talking about it mom. Oh...now I probably shouldn't have suggested playing that.

"I'm sorry Hope...I shouldn't have asked if we should play this in the first place." I told him.

He looked at me and shook his head. "It's fine...don't worry about it, It's not your fault she's...gone." He said trying to reassure me. "It was Snow's." he said bitterly. "He tricked her into fighting the PSICOMs that day at the Hanging Edge. He got her involved...and he couldn't even save her."

This surprised me. Would Snow really do that? I didn't really know what so say after that. Luckily, I didn't have to since Hope spoke up.

"A dead end. Guess we have to go back." He was panting loudly. We were walking for quite a while now, even I'm a little tired.

"Maybe we should take a break first." I suggested.

"I'm not tired though." He said, still panting. Uh-huh, not very good at hiding it.

"Hope, I'm a girl, not an idiot. You're tired." I said flatly. "And you're not really good at hiding it either."

He sighed in defeat once again and took a seat on a big metal board. I smirked. Two points for Adeline, zero for Hope. He looked really down. Thinking of his mom, maybe? Oh great...like I said before I'm not so great at making people feel better. I could atleast try, though. I don't really like seeing Hope so down all the time. Well, guess it wouldn't hurt to tell him....

I took a seat next to him. After finally getting my thoughts set straight, I spoke up. "You know...you're really lucky that were close to your mom..."

He looked at me, "What do you mean?"

I gave him a small smile. "My parents and I, we were never close. They were always busy with work and stuff. They never even bothered to make time for me and my brother. Even when they're at home, they paid no attention to us whatsoever. So it was always just me and Brice..." I paused for a second, then continued, "They got stressed out a lot from work often...sometimes taking it out on us." I winced as memories of those two tragic days began to flood back into my mind. "It started out this one night...."

_flashback_

_Eden, Griffith Residence, 2 years ago..._

_"Haha...cut it out Brice!" I said laughing my head off as my older brother, Brice, was giving me the tickle attack._

_"Hey, that's what you get for not agreeing that I am one-hundred percent manly!" He joked as he continued to tickle me. "All you have to do is say it, Addie." He said, using my nickname that only he gets to use._

_"O..okay! Okay fine!" I started laughing so much I was running out of breath. "You, Brice Griffith, are one-hundred percent manly. Manlier than any other out there!" Smirking in victory, he finally stopped so I could catch my breath._

_Me and Brice were really close, even though we were six years apart. Probably because the fact that my parents never really gave a damn about us and Brice spent most of the time taking care of me was I was younger. He truly was my best friend._

_A lot of people say we look alike. I honestly don't see it. Same eyes, same hair color, but that's pretty much it. His face was more...well boyish, and his hair was a shaggy black color. He could even do that thing where he snaps his neck to the right and all his hair goes like whooosh. Oh gosh, I cannot even tell you the number of girls who go crazy over it. _

_Just then, we both heard our door open, following up with an extremely loud slam. It was my parents, and telling from the loud slam, it was probably a stressful day from work...which obviously meant they were pissed._

_It was always scary a lot whenever their days were stressful. Whenever the come home, they expect the place to be perfect. They expect me and Brice to be "perfect." So of course, they do the usual inspection of the house, making sure everythings clean and we did all of our chores._

_"BRICE, ADELINE, get over here." I heard my mom yelling angrily. Oh great, what did we do this time? We walked over to them. I always hid behind Brice, only because I was scared. What could we have possibly done though? We did everything, made sure everything would be fine when they came home._

_"So, explain to us why the hell the laundry hasn't been washed." My dad said. We totally forgot about it! I guess were having too much fun....this isn't going to be pretty. We both just stood there, not knowing what to say. Then Brice spoke up._

_"We/re sorry dad, we forgot and it w--" He got cut off by a punch in the face by dad. I winced a little. They always had to hit him, never me. Sure they always yelled at both of us, but they always took it out on him the most. I would always just watch. I couldn't do anything...I was so hopeless._

_"You two have no respect for us, do you!?" Mom yelled. "You never appreciate the things we give you. You should be grateful, but you never are, you good for nothing things!"_

_"Why the hell should we be grateful to you two? Since when have you ever given a damn about us?" Brice yelled back. "Forget this...I'm going out." He went to his room to get his car keys. He akways did this...whenever he was fed up with mom and dad he would just go out for a drive....leaving me behind since they haven't hit me...yet._

_I followed him to his room, small tears in my eyes. "Brice...it's really late now though. Will you be okay?" I said sounding extremely worried._

_He smiled at me and playfully messed up my hair. "Hey, don't I always come back okay? I'll be fine...I just need to get away from them for a while, that's it. And you know if they do anything to you, all you need to do is call me and I'll be back here in a flash." He grinned while giving me a hug. He then walked out of the door, slamming ir hard._

_My parents were in the living room, just watching some TV. Brice still wasn't home yet. I looked at the time. It was 11:37pm. It's been about three hours since he's been gone. I was starting to get really worried. I decided to call him....but he didn't pick up. I tried again about ten more times, and still no answer. Oh my gosh...where was he? Just then, my house phone started ringing. I heard my dad pick up the phone. Was it Brice?_

_Then my mom opened my door quickly. "Adeline. Quick we have to go to the hospital now. Brice...got into an accient." My eyes widened and I quickly rushed into the car. My dad drove fast, probably not even caring about stop signs or the speed limit._

_"I'm terribly sorry, but your son...he couldn't make it." Those were the exact words I remember the nurse telling me. Each word hitting me harder than the last. I remember how I broke down crying. I lost him...my older brother...my best friend. Of course, I remember the exact words I told my parents that night._

_"This was all your fault! Both of you!." I yelled at them, still crying hysterically, not caring that my mom was crying too while my dad had some tears in his eyes. I just didn't care. "You two have never cared about us before! All you did was get pissed off at us for the most ridiculous things. And now, NOW you two decide to care! You two...are freaking monsters."_

_Eden, Hospital of Eden, 1 year later_

_I was back at the hospital. I haven't been here since...Brice's accident. Ever since that day, me and my parents were very distant with each other. For one whole year, I spent everyday barely speaking a word to them. And now, here they both are, lying on the hospital beds in the same room. They were on their way to work, but a drunk driver was going the opposite way in their lane. They crashed on that highway, the same highway where Brice crashed._

_I was crying. Sure, I was never close to them, but this isn't how I wanted things to end between us._

_"Mom...dad...I'm so sorry. I'm....sorry!" I sobbed. My knees were on the floor, and I just let it all out. I felt like this was partly my fault. Shutting them out like that...Brice wouldn't have wanted that, but I was just so angry._

_"Addie...you just have to know, me and your mom love you very much, and we're sorry we were never there for you...and Brice." My dad said with a faint smile._

_My mom took my hand, "Don't worry Adeline, you'll be fine. We'll all be together again, one day. All of us, including Brice. We'll....be a family again one day."_

_They didn't make it. Atleast...our final moments with each other ended on good terms. I finally knew that they truly did love both me and Brice. In my mom's will, my aunt Carole and uncle Henri were to take care of me. So, they did. They decided to live with me in Eden for a while so I could just finish eighth grade with all of my friends. Then, right when summer started, I moved to Palumpolum. _

_end of flashback_

"And now...well here I am." I said finishing. I didn't realize it, but I had my eyes were really watery, and I couldn't stop it. "It's all my fault! I couldn't stop Brice from getting into that car...and I spent a whole year pretty much hating my parents, making them feel guilty until they died!" I was crying hard. I didn't care anymore. I didn't care that Hope was watching me right now. How pathetic I probably looked right now.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of gloved hands creeping up my cheeks, trying to wipe away my tears for me. I looked up. It was Hope's hands. A small brush crept up my cheeks.

"You umm...you shouldn't cry." Hope said, still brushing away my tears that were still pouring out. "It's..better when you smile. I-I like it better when you're smiling." He finished, trying to hide the embarassment in his voice.

"Hope..." I said quietly. He was so sweet. I wrapped my arms around him, burying my face in his chest as I continued to cry softly. I felt him stiffen a little, but then he relaxed as he wrapped his arms around me to pull me in closer.

As I cried, I began to feel a little tired. Probably from all the crying. It can really tire a person out. Slowly, I closed my eyes, drifting to sleep...just for a while, still in Hope's arms.

I _really_ liked being in his arms.

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Okay, I must say, I am really proud after writing this :) See, cute little surprise there I added at the end, right? Haha well let me know what you think, and I'll be sure to update as soon as possible 3


	5. Growing Feelings

Wow, it feels like a while since I've updated! Ehh got nothing to say really except for thank you once again for all your way to sweet reviews! :)

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**I've Got You**

**Chapter 5: Growing Feelings**

I woke up, kind of. Like..I was aware I was awake, but I didn't want to open my eyes. I felt super comfortable right now for some reason, so therefore I didn't feel like getting up anytime soon. I was snuggled up to something with my arms wrapped around it. Wait...what?

My eyes snapped open, only to find that the thing my arms were wrapped around was Hope... He was asleep, with _his_ arms wrapped around me. How we got into this position I have no clue whatsoever. Well...good thing he wasn't awake, because I was like blushing super red at that moment! How long have we been asleep? I moved my head slightly trying not to wake up Hope to get a better view of the sky. It was still dark...so I'd say we've been asleep for atleast an hour or so. We should get up soon. The others might be worried about us. _Or _we could just wait here until they find us. I'm not going to lie, I kind of wanted to stay like this...._kind of._ My eyes lazily closed as I drifted back to sleep. However, a familiar voice just had to interrupt.

"Adeline! Hope! About time we found you gu--Ohh whoops! Were you two in the middle of something?" Said the giggling voice. That giggle I've gotten so use to. I opened my eyes once again to see Vanille and Sazh. Both staring at me and Hope grinning those wide, cheshire-cat grins as if they knew something I didn't know. I heard Hope groan as he slowly opened his eyes. Ohh yeah, Hope and I were still kind of in that awkward position that teenagers shouldn't really be in if they just met each other like a day ago.

"Hmmm...what's going on...?" He asked tiredly. His eyes widened once he realized his arms were still around me, and jumped up. Vanille and Sazh started chuckling, Hope started blushing, ....I started blushing. Well, that's just lovely, isn't it? Hmm okay what to say, what to say....

"It's really not what it looked like!" I blurted out. Yeah, that's the best I can come up with.

"Oh, that's so cute! I always knew you two would end up together eventually!" Vanille said teasingly, totally ignoring my last comment.

Sazh gave a hearty chuckle, "Young people these days, just can't keep their hands off each other." ....Thanks, Sazh. Always the mature one out of everyone here as usual.

"Just drop it!" I said, still kind of red in the cheeks. "By the way...where's Lightning?" I asked trying to change the subject, just noticing that she wasn't with them when they showed up on the worst time possible.

"She went ahead of us, because she actually has the stamina to keep going." Sazh shrugged.

"Well...we found you two already, now we just have to keep moving and catch up with her!" Vanille said with her determination sparkling in her eyes. She quickly ran straight ahead of us.

"Whoa there, slow down! Ugh, who am I kidding?" Sazh said reluctantly as he sprinted to catch up with the bubbly Vanille. I looked back at Hope. He tilted his head to the side a little, gesturing that we should follow. He started walking ahead of me. ...Well I certainly was not going to tell him infront of Vanille and Sazh... I caught up with him and grabbed his wrist, making him stop in his tracks as he looked back at me with surprised eyes.

"Hey...thanks for earlier. That was really sweet of you!" I said smiling at him.

His cheeks turned pink, "Y-Yeah no problem." he said quickly. Goodness, he was adorable! I got on my tiptoes (because I'm just so short) and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. I'm pretty sure he just turned ten shades deeper. Oh well, I didn't care! I walked ahead leaving him completely dumstruck. I didn't bother to stop and wait until he was back to planet earth since I heard his footsteps catching up with mine a few seconds later.

So here's pretty much how the rest of the walk went. We walked, obviously. Then we would find a dead end, but there was always a switch or some exploding thing that would open it. Sazh would press whatever button he had to (having no clue what he was doing, of course) push to get rid of the dead end. Mhmm, that's really what happened for the whole time. Vile Peaks...I hate this place. I think I've tripped over atleast ten scraps of metal in the past half hour or so we've been walking. Oh, and did I forget to mention the machines that still work would randomly attack us occasionally? Especially the huge bombs that were seconds away from exploding on is if we didn't get rid of it just in time. Yeah, like I said, I am really not fond of this place at all!

"I'm going to go peek ahead!" She said running to get ahead of Sazh.

Sazh groaned. "Do me a favor. Stop wandering off and stay where I can keep my eyes on you." he said. Oh so _now_ he chooses to act like the responsible adult he truly is.

He ran after her, again.

"Hey! Wait....oh nevermind!" I shrugged. I'm too tired to run....

"Should we catch up with them?" Hope asked.

"You can. I'm not in the mood for running. Besides, they're not that far ahead of us. Knowing Vanille, she'll probably stop running and give Sazh a break." I said.

It took him a while to reply...lost in thought? Boys... "I'll stay with you. Uh, you know, in case something happens." He stammered. Soo, he's indirectly hinting to me that he'll protect me if something happens? Well, maybe! I can dream, can't I?

I was right. It took only about ten minutes to catch up with them just by walking. You could hear Sazh's loud panting even if you were a mile away. Poor Sazh! I wonder how he managed to keep up with Vanille when it was just those two together. But nonetheless, you could tell Sazh was pretty fond of her. Weren't we all? It's kind of hard not to like her. We continued our walk. Then, out of no where, Lightning jumps right infront of us. Did she seriously just jump all the way from a freaking mountain? It would appear so...

"Hey! Welcome to the party." Sazh said.

"You miss us?" Vanille asked with the biggest smile ever.

Lightning stared and gave them a simple "hmph." Then she just walked ahead.

"Time to move." she said.

Sazh sighed, "Would it kill her to smile?" I couldn't help but let out a small laugh. It's true, I don't think Lightning has cracked a smile one bit since I've met her. New theory, when Lightning ever smiles, five children are brought back to life.

Our walk was pretty much the same as before, except with Lightning, we actually had to run a little bit. Just what I wanted...not. No one bothered to complain, however. Or else...one of us might have to face her wrath.

Minutes later, we stopped dead in our tracks to see one big broken machine. One of the large gears on it seemed to be turning. You can kind of see where this is going, right? Two bright lights started to shine. Before we knew it, the giant machine got on it's two big square feet. It didn't really have a face, except for the two lights. It's two arms where big and it had claw-like hands. On both sides of it's head it seemed to have sharp chainsaw shaped things.

"What is that?" Sazh said surprised.

"Pulse armament." Said Lightning, pulling out her gun-blade.

"And that's bad for us, isn't it." Sazh said with a hint of sarcasm while getting out his pistols.

"You have eyes, don't you?" Lightning countered with her own sarcasm.

Everyone else, including me, pulled out their weapons. Looks like this thing was going to be a tough one. Lightning and Sazh were trying to attack it physically while Hope and Vanille were using magic. Oh, come on! I still have yet to figure out how to do it! Maybe...if I just focus. Clear my mind from everything. I closed my eyes, directing all focus right on the monster machine....nothing happened. Okay, I give up for now. I just started attacking with my sword-whip. The battle went on for a couple of minutes until it started to slow down. Ha. Too easy. It backed away from us and opened it's "mouth." Inside was a glowing, bluish purplish bomb that was aiming straight at us. Way too jynx it, Adeline! All of us backed away quickly, but that didn't stop the bomb from hitting the metal platform we were on. It broke as we all fell into the ground flat on our faces, including Lightning.

"Thought we were goners. You all alright?" Sazh asked as we all got up, trying to stay on our feets.

"Incoming!" Lightning yelled. The machine jumped right into the ground, swinging it's enormous arms around back and forth. Still hasn't had enough, hasn't it?

Our battle was kind of the same as before since we all were pretty much doing the same exact thing. With a little twist, though. It seems like the machine monster can be a half flamethrower now. Yay.... It's "hands" were now filled with flames as it swung it's arms around again and again. I saw it advancing towards Hope, it's left arm lifting up, getting ready for a hard swing down. No...not Hope. One hit from that thing and he was a goner. I couldn't do anything...wait yes I can! I focused, harder than last time. The only thing that was on my head right now was keeping him safe.

I felt my l'Cie mark glimmer. My hands...were forming water. No way, this is awesome! Before I knew it, I released a big burst of water from my hands, directly hitting the machine as it backed down. _Finally. _I finally got the hang of this l'Cie stuff. Well, kind of. The battle went on. I tried doing different things with my newly discovered l'Cie stuff. I did, need a little practice, though. Using l'Cie power can really wear you out, especially if you just learned how to use it. Or, maybe it's just me...whatever. I switched to my sword-whip for the rest of the fight. For what seemed like forever, the machine monster finally had enough and slumped back down to it's former position when we first saw it.

"Pulse is crawling with things like that, isn't it?" Sazh asked directing his question to Lightning.

"Got me," she said, "Not even the Corps has access to intel on Pulse." Ahh so she was a Guardian Corps soldier. She continued, "Soldiers in the field fight blind."

"Yeah, I notcied that," said Sazh, "..But don't you need to know exactly what you're up against?"

"Target's a target." she simply said. "Come on, let's move."

"Not even a tiny break after we just finished off that stupid machine." Sazh mumbled as we all followed behind Lightning.

Lightning really does have quite the stamina as Sazh has said before, but who knew she had so much? She jogged a light pace. She could've probably gone a lot faster if she didn't have to let us catch up with her.

We stopped again, staring at the gigantic, yet broken warship.

"Three minute break, okay? Then we go." Lighning declared. I didn't care if it was three minutes, I was tired like everyone else. I took a good stretch, stretching out both my arms and legs.

"So where are we planning to go now?" I heard Sazh ask Lightning.

"There." she said, pointing her head into a direction in the sky. My eyes followed to see where she was pointing at. Eden.

"Eden? You serious?" Sazh questioned her.

"That's right. I'm not dying a fal'Cie slave." she said.

"So? What are you going to do?"

"Destroy it."

"You _want_ Cocoon to get destroyed?"

"No! What about Serah?" Vanille jumped in. "She said to save Cocoon! It might even be our focus to make sure it stays-"

"Our focus doesn't matter." Lightning said, cutting her off. "I don't take orders from fal'Cie. How I live is up to me. And don't worry, I'm after the Sanctum. I'm not out to destroy the world. ..If it did come to that, wonder if our 'hero' would try to stop me." "Hero" referring to Snow, I bet.

"You want to fight Snow now? Just like that, and you're enemies?" Sazh said trying to reason with her.

"Next time we meet, we might be too." She said, directing it to all of us as she walked off. The rest of us just stood there, not exactly sure what to do.

"Snow deserves it." said Hope as he ran ahead to try and catch up with Lightning. I never really noticed until now how much Lightning and Hope have in common. They're both quiet, need to work on their socializing skills, and apparently share a strong dislike for Snow. Well, that was only three things, but whatever.

For some reason, I couldn't help but want to go and follow Hope. I don't know why... Well, I've already made up my mind.

"Umm..hey guys, I think I'm going to go ahead..." I said kind of unsure.

Sazh sighed, but gave me a small smile. "Go on. He's going to need you anyways, especially if you two are going to be with Lightning."

I nodded and ran to catch up with him. When I finally caught up, he was only a few inches away, and I didn't really feel like running anymore considering all the running I've done today.

"Hey, slow down will you?" I yelled so he could hear me. He looked back with a surprised look on his face and stopped as I walked over to him.

"You...you want to come?" He asked, still in shock.

I shrugged, "Well...yeah. Unless, you don't want me to."

He shook his head, "No, I really do want you to. Who know's how it would be if it was just me and Lightning?" He smiled.

I smiled back. We continued to walk together, trying to find Lightning.

Well, I guess it is a good thing I decided to follow him.

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Finally! This kind of took me a while, but I am proud of this nonetheless! You know I love y'alls reviews :D


	6. Tickles

Aw man I was actually planning to update earlier this week, but i just didn't have the time to until today! Well, no worries! Enjoy chapter 6 :)

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**I've Got You**

**Chapter 6: Tickles**

"Ugh...how far ahead do you think Lightning is?" I questioned Hope for maybe the third time now. It really hasn't been that long since we've been walking, but it just feels that we should've gotten caught up with her already for some reason. What can I say? I'm not a pacient person.

Hope just shrugged, "I don't know, we'll find her...eventually."

For the next four minutes, it was quiet. I was kind of hoping for Hope to actually start talking to me first, but that's not exactly working out! Well, I'm okay with that I guess. I mean come on...if you just saw his innocent, adorable, insanely gorgeous face then it's kind of hard to be annoyed with him. Plus, he's kind of shy and all, so that makes him even cuter! To be honest, I don't know what to say to him sometimes. Not that I get nervous or anything...because I'm not! ...Okay fine so I do get nervous around him sometimes. Infact, I get super nervous around guys I li-wait, no! I don't like him, I swear! I just happen to think he's really cute and all. Yeah...what I _meant _to say was that I get super nervous around guys I think are really cute. Yup. In my past fourteen years, I've only had...two "boyfriends." I don't think I can even call them that! One only lasted for a day because it was a dare, and the other one lasted for a month until I broke up with him because he flirted with other girls all the time. Yeah, that's first grade drama for you.

Huh, speaking of all of my past, "dramatic" relationships, I wondered if Hope has or had a girlfriend before. Just curious really. Not that I would care if he has or had one! Because, like, why on earth would I?

_Oh please, you would care._

Shut up, I wouldn't!

_Yes you would._

Oh yeah, and how would you know?

_Because I'm your conscious?_

Leave me alone then, will you?

_Not until you admit it._

"Just shut up!" I yelled out loud.

"...What?" Hope said with confusion in his voice. Oh, great. What am I suppose to say? 'Oh, sorry I was just having a fight with my conscious about me not being jealous if you have a girlfriend?' Um, yeah right.

"I...uh, it's nothing." Wow, way to suck at coming up with something good to say, Adeline.

Out of no where, Hope started to laugh. Not like the small chuckles he usually makes, but like a super laugh. Like, that kind of laugh where you just can't stop and you're close to not breathing sort of thing. Wait, was he laughing at me? He better not be.

"What's so funny?" I asked with the most confused look on my face.

"Nothing really...it's just that...you would be the kind of person to talk to themself." He teased, trying to hold back his laughter. I'll admit, it's kind of weird to see him laugh like this since he's usually quiet and fidgety all the time. There's only one logical explanation for this: he must be high on something... Ha, kidding. It was nice though having him like this rather than his usual gloomy self. However, the whole laughing at me thing was unacceptable.

I punched him playfully on the shoulder. "Shut up!" I said smiling. He didn't stop though! Well, you know, whatever makes him happy.... Okay, but seriously, the laughing at me thing had to stop, now. Hm, what should I do...aha!

"Hope...are you ticklish?" I asked, with an innocent look on my face.

He stopped laughing. _Ha _I got him. "N-no, of course not!" He stuttered, eyes widened just a little bit. Not the best liar, I see.

"Really?" I said as I poked him on his side. He gave out a small yelp. _Too cute_. "Ha, I knew you were!" I smiled in triumph.

"Oh, yeah? How about you?"

"Nope, I'm not ticklish at all." ...So I lied. Honestly, I'm probably more ticklish than he is, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him!

"Really?" He said, mocking me from earlier as he poked my side. I gave out a loud squeal whilst he laughed softly. Damnit! How'd he figure out? For the rest of the walk we continued try and poke each other while covering our sides at the same time, laughing the entire time. It was nice, it really was. Right now, it felt like we were just normal teenagers instead of l'Cies being hunted down.

Finally, we were all out of breath from laughing, both our sides probably sore. My jaw was even aching, in a good way though. So it's true, the quiet people are always the most fun to be with! You know, when they're not quiet. After we finished our little tickle fight, we noticed a small moving speck right ahead of us. I squinted my eyes a little to get a better view of what it was. It was Lightning! Hope instantly grabbed my hand and ran to try and catch up with her.

We were just a few feet away from her.

"Hey, wait up!" Hope yelled!

Lightning stopped right in her tracks and looked back, staring at us with those cold blue eyes.

"What are you two doing here?" She said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Just go back, I can't babysit you all anymore."

"I can fight. I'm not afraid anymore." He replied rather confidently. Before she could even say one word, she looked back to see a PSICOM squad of five ready to attack us.

"Great, a PSICOM hit squad." She said, unphased by their appearance. The one soldier in the front did some sort of gesture signal that made a bomb from behind explode, causing some broken machine to fall down, blocking our way back. There was no way to get out of this one, so we had no choice but to fight them.

It was a fairly quick fight. A little tiring, but it honestly only felt like a few seconds. I'm proud to say I killed...well I only killed one really, but I'm proud though!

"Not bad." Said Lightning. Was she actually complimenting me and Hope? Well, I'll take it anyways!

I smiled and asked, "So, you'll let us come with you?"

She looked at us with a serious face (not that she's never serious), "If you stick with me, it will be fight after fight. It's anybody's guess how it will end."

"I know that." Hope spoke up. "But-I need to be stronger."

She didn't reply. She was thinking. So she's considering letting us go with her?

"...Lightning?" Hope said again.

"Call me Light." She said quickly, indirectly a confirmation that we could tag along.

"You're going to Eden, right?" I asked. She gave me a smile nod while I continued, "That's where I use to live until this year...I know my way there like the back of my hand, including some of the Sanctum's secret areas."

She narrowed her eyes at me a little suspiciously, "And how do you know where some hidden Sanctum areas are?"

"Field trips." I said as if it were the most obvious think in the world. Most field trips for students in Eden consisted of getting the privilege to see where some of Sanctum's most important bases were. It was really just one of their ways to try and influence the younger crowd to join either the PSICOM or Guardian Corps. So, to me, it was just really a waste of my time going there. Sure, getting to see some were kind of cool, but I never considered joining the military. Not even once.

"...Okay. First we have to go through the Gapra Whitewood, then to Palumpolum where we can find a train to Eden." Lightning explained.

"And I live in Palumpolum, so I can show you all the shortcuts." Hope said. He lives there? Huh, I never saw him. Oh, well, that could be because I just moved there....right....

"No side trips." Lightning warned him, starting to walk ahead as we followed her.

"No need. I don't think l'Cie are welcome at home." He said.

Again, walking with Lightning? Totally like gym class all over again. ...Okay fine that was an exaggeration, but still! We're not even walking, we're jogging. I guess power walking isn't good rnough for her, isn't it? I do feel like I've gotten kind of faster. Seriously, I should consider joining track when school starts. Just kidding.

We started to slow down, we were actually _walking_. Thank goodness! Wait, why were we though? I then heard voices just a few feet ahead of us. Thankfully, there was a giant boulder we could hide behind. I peaked from behind the boulder to see that the voices belonged to two PSICOM soldiers.

"Any trace of the l'Cie?" One of them asked, the other one examining the machine monster we defeated from before. They were talking about us. Great. ...Or maybe Vanille and Sazh? I can't believe I almost forgot about them! I really do hope they're okay...

"Just follow my lead, okay?" I heard Lightning whispering quietly to me and Hope. We both nodded our heads silently as she pulled out her gunblade while we pulled out our own weapons.

"Nothing. No sign it's been activated." The other soldier said. Lightning took a step forward, purposely trying to get their attention.

"Huh? Who's there?" One said while both got out their guns. They charged straight toward us.

Lightning easily took out one with just one swing of her blade while Hope just blasted the other with fire. ...Hey! I didn't get to even hit one. Oh, whatever! They both went down in a second.

"Wonder what PSICOM was doing here." Hope said while observing the big machine.

"They probably thought we'd try and use a Pulse machine to escape." said Lightning.

"Maybe we should try it." He suggested as he started to climb up the machine.

"You really think that thing still works?" I asked.

He finally got on top where all the control switches and stuff were. "I don't know, let's find out." He said rather enthusiastically. Hope must really be into mechanics and stuff like that. Well, he is a boy. Pretty much every guy I've met likes these kinds of stuff. Must be a boy thing or something.

"Hey don't touch that! You're going to hurt yourself!" Lightning yelled. It kind of seemed like she was scolding him. Like...she was his mom or something. Better not say that out loud. If anything, girls do not want to be called or feel like they're old. My grandmother always use to give a good whack at Brice whenever he joked about her being old. She was old, though, but I knew better not to call her that!

"Hey! Check it out, I think I can work this!" He said excitedly. He actually kind of could! The Pulse machine was now standing, with Hope controlling it's every movement. He was a little clumsy when it came to moving it, though.

I giggled at how he was struggling to keep the giant machine in place. Lightning just rolled her eyes and walked over to a blocked path. Another metal board once again was blocking our way. She looked around to check if there was any way to move it. There was nothing.

Luckily, it was Hope to the rescue! One swing with the machine's arms and the board fell down, creating a bridge for us to walk over. Hope and his machine thing went ahead first while Lightning and I followed.

Hope really did manage to drive it well...kind of. As we walked there were a few groups of PSICOM soldiers. All we had to do was let Hope take a swing at them with the help from the machine and then they were gone! It was like flicking that annoying fly near the windshield wipers. However, once we were crossing down a steep hill, he lost control and went tumbling down with the machine all the way to the ground.

"Nice landing." Lightning said sarcastically. She made her way down with a few quick, but long jumps. Uhh yeah I'm not going to do that. I just walked down the cliff as quickly as I could. Hope slowly got up from the ground. Must've been a pretty hard landing.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, just a bit winded."

"Let's get moving." Lightning instructed. We followed her command as we continued to walk. _Walking_. Yay...

During the middle of our long walk, I started to slow down my pace a little. Not because I was getting tired (surprising, I know), but Hope was. I didn't really blame him though, this has been a long night.

Just as we were about to cross another bridge, Hope tripped and fell flat on his face. As he got up, Lightning, not looking back at us, sighed.

"This isn't working. You two are just slowing me down." She said.

"What?" Hope said, trying to make sure he _didn't_ hear what he was hearing right now.

"I'm sorry, but I can't protect you when-" She cringed, clutching her heart. Is she okay?

"You can't leave us here! You've gotta take us with you!" Hope shouted.

"Enough!" She yelled back. She was still clutching on her heart, getting on her knees a little. What's going on... "The whole world is against us. I can barely keep myself alive, let alone some helpless kids! You want to get tough? Do it on your own!" The last words directed mostly to Hope. Then, an enormous, pinkish circle formed on the ground, surrounding her. It seemed to form a flower like shape. Lights began to glow lighter as she quickly got out of the circle. Just as she made her way out, the lights shined brighter, almost blinding us. It began to get a bit dimmer, and then finally something appeared. It looked like a white knight, with demon like features. In it's hands were a big blackish gold shield and in the other was an extremely long curved like sword.

It was coming straight towards me and Hope. I closed my eyes quickly, only to hear another blade clashing with the beast's. I opened my eyes to see Lightning trying to hold it off for a few seconds. It's sword was too strong, even for her's, so she backed away from it before it could crush her. I took out my sword-whip while Hope took out his boomerangs. This battle, from what it seems, won't be a quick one.

For most of the time, Lightning was dueling swords with it, making every hit that she could last. Hope and I were casting different magic spells to help her out. I know this is probably the millionth time I've said this, but I sure do love these l'Cie powers! Unfortunately, this little demon can cast thunder spells. Thunder began to crash down everywhere. Thankfully, everyone managed to avoid all of the bolts. A few minutes more the battle went on. The white knight was beginning to look weak. Finally, Lightning took one more hit at it. It put it's sword down, sticking it to the ground. It jumped up into the air, with a light aura beginning to glow around it. Before our very eyes, the white knight now has transformed into a white horse. It galloped back to the ground and stopped right infront of Light as she got on top of it, attempting to tame it. It quickly obeyed her. She then got off of it, and it galloped away, disappearing into the midnight sky.

Lightning, obviously exhausted from all of that, got on her knees, panting loudly. You could see her brand visible now since it was glowing. It looked a little different.

"Was that an Eidolon? Like a l'Cie can summon?" Hope questioned her.

Finally regaining her breath, her brand stopped glowing and she looked up at us, slowly getting up. "Magic and mumbo-jumbo...I must've hit my head hard on that Purge train." She said.

"Um...are we really in your way?" He asked her shyly.

"...We'll toughen you up." She said. We? Um, okay. "Sorry what I said before..." she said directing it to the both of us. She walked quickly ahead of us. Someone's not use to apologizing... I smiled and followed her with Hope walking close behind.

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Yay, I finished! It's like 3:00am here...I was so tempted to finish this so I don't care :)


	7. Bonding

Ahh this chapter is just going to be kind of a filler, but it helps develop a bondage sort of with Adeline and Lightning since so far they've never really had that much interaction and stuff....yup! Well hope you guys like it anyways :)

BTW who wore green on Earth Day? I did! :) Support our Earth! Lol

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**I've Got You**

**Chapter 7: "Bonding"**

It was starting to get pretty late, and I when I mean "pretty late" I actually mean really super duper late. I decided not to really say anything. I mean I wasn't sleepy or anything, but maybe five minutes to rest would be nice. Yeah...but I didn't want to ask Light though. I didn't want to "slow her down." Besides, like I said, I'm really not that tired. I did for a fact know that Hope was. It's really not that hard to notice. He probably didn't want Light to know, ever since our little incident a few hours ago.

Half and hour passed by, and my legs were starting to ache and feel sore. Ugh okay now I wanted to rest. Maybe I should just ask? I mean we have been walking non-stop...and maybe Lightning's a little tired too! Hey, it's a possibility.

As if my prayers have just been answered, Light stopped in her tracks. "We'll stop here," she announced, "I'll look around the area, you two rest up." Yes! Thank you to whoever is up there for this small gift! Hope pretty much just fell straight to the ground. He was sitting down, leaning on a bulky boulder while I sat on the opposite side facing him.

He was really exhausted, no doubt about that. You could easily tell.

"Hey," he spoke up tiredly, his eyes half open "...wake me up when Light gets back...so we can...keep moving and..." His eyes lazily closed as he drfited to sleep.

"Sweet dreams, Hope." I said quietly, smiling.

So, a few minutes later I decided maybe I should get some sleep. That didn't work out so well. Apparently when I said that I only needed a five minute break....I actually meant it. I'm completely not tired anymore! No, actually I probably am. In fact, I'm probably really tired, but I'm so tired that I don't feel like I am and I'm really wide awake right now. Yeah...that probably didn't make any sense, but you know the feeling, right? Well, that's just great! I can't get to sleep, I'm bored, and I can't even talk to anyone since Hope's fast asleep and Lightning's...somewhere.

I heard footsteps coming up from behind. Startled, I twisted my head around just to find out it was Light. Oh ha, I so knew it was her.

She looked at Hope, sleeping peacefully. "Fell asleep, huh?" she said, taking a seat next to me while putting her gunblade to the side.

"Yeah."

"You're not tired?"

"No, not really."

Out of no where, we both heard Hope mumbling something. We looked at him. He was still sleeping. Oh, so Hope's a sleep talker! How fun will this be from now on!

"....Mom?" Hope said, still sleeping.

"Tch, not by a long shot." I heard Lightning say quietly. I glanced at her curiously to find her with a small smile on her face. Oh my goodness, Lightning smiled! Five children have been reborn!

I smirked, letting out a small scoff-laugh. Lightning looked at me oddly. "What?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing, it's just the first time I've ever really seen you smile."

"Oh..." she said, doing her best to hide the embarassment in her voice. Wow, Lightning is actually capable of smiling and getting embarassed. Who would've thought?

"Smiling's nothing to be embarassed about." I assured her.

She looked at me and frowned. "Who said I was ever embarassed?" she said with a tinge of annoyance. Alright, guess my fun's over! I decided to shut up after that. Both of us just sat there, not saying a word. Uhh talk about awkward! Well, for me, atleast. Maybe it is for Lightning, since I've recently discovered that it is possible for her to have emotioins and all that jazz. I idly fumbled around with my sword-whip. That made me realize something, I never really used the sword part, just the whip. What a sad truth... I just...found the whip a lot more easier to use for some reason. Maybe it was about time I start learning how to use the sword.

Maybe...I could ask Lightning to help! She does use that gunblade more as a blade rather than a gun. Doesn't hurt to ask, does it? Besides, it's really not that intimidating to ask her anymore. After all, she actually has emotions! Um, yeah, I just can't get that thought out of my head. Okay...I'll just go for it.

"I don't really know how to use a sword that well...so that's why I always use this as a whip." I blurted out. Not really the way I wanted to get this conversation started, but whatever.

She raised her eyebrows. "You don't know how to use a sword?" I shook my head. "Still not tired?" I nodded. She got up suddenly, picking up her gunblade. I gave her a confused look. What's she up to?

"There's a small area not far from here. We should go there...that way we won't be able to wake him up." She said.

"Wake him up? Wait...why are we going there anyways?" I asked, still confused.

"Because...you need to learn how to use that sword. It will be more useful if you know how to fight with both parts of your weapon." She actually was going to help me out? That's cool! I mean, how many teenagers can say they've done training with a Guardian Corps soldier? Not that many. I got up with my sword-whip already in my and followed her, making sure not to wake up Hope.

The area we were going to train at was literally only eight minutes away. There was a a decent sized lake here. Hope I don't fall in there on accident!

"Okay, show me what you've got." She said while pulling out her gunblade and getting into a fighting position.

"W-what?" I was completely baffled.

"It will be easier to get better at if you actually spar with someone....Don't worry I promise I won't hurt you."

Nervously, I got out my sword-whip and got into my battle position. She lunged her gunblade at me. Quickly, I blocked it with my sword. I dodged as she came in with another blow. I tried to take a good swipe at her, but she easily blocks my shot.

We continued for a good twenty minutes. We were both attacking, blocking, dodging... I've got to say, I was really getting the hang of using my sword-whip! Like...the sword part.

"Not too shabby." Light commented. Coming from her, that's a pretty good compliment if you ask me.

"Thanks." I said smiling.

Our sparring only lasted a few more minutes. It was going good. Trying to dodge Lightning's blows were not that easy, but I managed. However, while I was trying to block her sword, I was off time and tried to dodge it as I felt her blade slide by the bottom of my knee. I cringed.

"Are you okay?" I heard Lightning asked me. The look on her face...she looked worried.

"I'm fine...it's just a little cut." I said examining my knee. It wasn't that bad. Sure it hurt a little, but it was fine. I could barely even see any blood.

She looked at me uncertainly, but decided to let it go. "Let's call it a night."

In the middle of our short walk back, I started to feel a sharp pain on my knee. I ignored it, though. I just needed to rest, it will be fine tomorrow. The pain started to get worse, though. I clutched it for a while, but then I felt something on my hands. Quickly, I took my hand back to find it covered in blood. My eyes widened as I looked down at my knee. It was bleeding pretty badly, and the pain was not helping.

"Uh...Light..." I said weakly. She looked back at me, and her eyes widened when she saw my knee. I was about to say something, but I fell to the ground instead, groaning in pain.

"Adeline!" I heard her yell. After that, I totally blacked out.

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I woke up. It was morning, and the sun was shining brightly in my face. Great, I actually had to open my eyes now. Wait...my knee. What happened last night after I fainted? I glanced down at it to find a light green scarf wrapped around it. Light green scarf...oh! Is it...is it Hope's!? I looked across from me to find Hope still asleep. He wasn't wearing his scarf. So it is his scarf.... Well, that's nice, now I've just gotten blood all over it! I got up and stretched. I tried walking around a little to see if my knee was really okay. It didn't hurt at all anymore. I carefully untied the neatly tied knot. The bleeding stopped too. Thank goodness!

I decided to go to that lake area from last night to try and get all of this blood washed off of this scarf. When I finally got there, I saw Lightning sitting there cleaning her gunblade. She obviously heard my footsteps and looked back.

"Morning." She said.

"Morning." I said as I walked over to the lake. I began to wash the blood off.

"Is your knee okay?"

"It's fine...but what happened last night anyways?" I asked curiously.

"Oh...well after you fainted I just carried you back." Talk about embarassing! Suddely, I feel like a big wimp. She continued, "Hope woke up and started freaking out. Since we didn't have any bandages or anything he insisted that we just use his scarf." I swear my face turned a pinkish color. He is probably like the sweetest guy ever!

"Uh...thanks for carrying me back then. I guess I'm going to have to thank Hope later." I said as a continued to wash the scarf.

"He cares about you a lot, you know." She said.

I blushed. "Oh, uh really?"

"The whole night he was worried about you." She simply said as she got up. "I'm going to go check ahead, I'll meet back where Hope is, okay?"

"Got it." I said as she walked off.

It took a while, but I finally got Hope's scarf to become completely spotless. I was really proud of myself at the moment. I made my way back to the camp site.

When I got back, Hope was _still_ asleep. As much as I didn't want to wake him up, I had to. Light would be here any minute now. I shook him lightly.

"Hope...wake up sleepyhead." I said in a sing-song voice sort of.

His eyes fluttered open. Once he was fully awake he took a quick look at me knee. "Does your knee feel better?" he asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah...oh here you go." I said while handing him back his scarf. "Don't worry, I washed it."

"Oh, thanks..." He said nervously. Why was he so nervous all of a sudden? Oh, I don't know! Nor did I care really, he's just way too cute.

I smiled at him and gave him a kiss on his cheek...again. "Thanks for letting me use it!" I said while smiling brightly.

"I-uh, you're welcome." He stuttered, totally blushing.

I giggled. "We should go catch up with Light, she's not too far ahead."

He shyly nodded as we walked off to find her.

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Haha, I was actually planning to make this kind of short, but look how that turned out! Well anyways reviews always make me happy, so yeah tell me what you think! :)


	8. Fights

Ohhh my gosh I haven't updated in like two weeks! Seriously, I've missed writing this that much, especially when I know that my sweet readers like this story :) That just makes my day. My sincerest apologies, but these past two weeks have kept me extremely occupied and I just didn't have any free time at all! Plus for english classed I was forced to read the most boring book ever, Life of Pi (sorry if I offended anyone who likes it), so bear with me! You know school, it can be such a pain. But, no worries! In about 3 more weeks my summer vacation will start and I will have so much time to update and all that jazz.

Umm you might hate me for this chapter.... :P

xxxxx

**I've Got You**

**Chapter 8: Fights**

"You're positive we're going the right way?"

"I'm positive."

"Positively...positive?"

"You bet."

"That's what you said an hour ago when we were going the wrong way." I said jokingly.

"W-well, I made a mistake! We're going the right way this time...right Lightning?"

"Yeah, now we are. What did I tell you two about keeping your voices low?" Light said half irritated.

We both decided to shut up instantly. Don't want to get Lightning in like a furious rage.

Oh, right. Right now we're in the Gapra Whitewood at the moment. The border zone that separates Vile Peaks from Palumpolum. In other words, unfortunately, the only way we can get to Palumpolum. Not really the safest way, however. This place houses monsters that Sanctum experiments on in order to turn them into weapons later. So there's a couple of things to watch for. Monsters, no surprise, and a few PSICOM troops. We've already fought a few.

Did I forget to mention that Hope decided to take the lead? It was kind of surprising, but like you know whatever builds his confidence. Lightning even gave him a small knife to borrow.

Lightning...she's actually not as mean as some might think she is. Sure she's kind of intimidating to be near, doesn't talk much, gives you snarly glares when you get on her nerves, not afraid of pretty much everything, and only smiles on occasion. However, she's not a bad person. She's shown to have a soft side, but she's really, really good at hiding it. It's kind of like...like how Sazh tries to hide the fact that he's old!

That thought suddenly made me wonder where were Sazh and Vanille. Were they okay? Are they still at Vile Peaks, or did they already get out of there? Or...did PSICOM soliders get them? Why did they have to be so automatically likeable? Seriously, if they weren't, I wouldn't be this worried about them!

"How do you think Sazh and Vanille are doing right now?" I asked all of a sudden out loud.

"Who knows?" said Lightning. "Even if they got away, they're going to get caught eventually. Then they're going to have to choose: resist or surrender." Thank you, Light. Because that just totally doesn't make me feel more worried about them.

"...Do you think he's still alive?" Hope spoke up.

"You mean Snow?" She scoffed. "He's too stubborn to die." Hm, that's probably true. She continued, "He's arrogant and he thinks he's everyone's friend. I never liked him that much." Oh yeah, like that wasn't obvious at all. "He also leads a gang called 'NORA.' Just a bunch of kids."

"Where'd they get the name 'Nora'?" Hope asked curiously.

"It's a stupid acronym they made up. Their little code that stands for 'No Obligations, Rules, or Authority.'"

"Sounds kind of obnoxious." I said truthfully.

"It is." She said.

"It's irresponsible." Hope muttered bitterly. Guess Hope still doesn't like Snow.

For the rest of the walk, it was pretty quiet. Hope was noticeably frowning the entire time. There was something obviously on his mind. Was it Snow? Yeah it probably was.

It really bothered me seeing him like this. I really don't know why it does so much, but it just does.

"What's on your mind, Hope?" I asked him.

All he did was shrug. I sighed. "It wouldn't happen to be Snow, would it?" He nodded silently while fumbling around Light's knife.

"What happened with him?" Lightning asked.

"...My mom was killed...because of him. It's his fault." he said as his voice cracked a little. He told us the full story. About how she volunteered to fight with Snow against the PSICOM at the Hanging Edge and how he was unable to save her from a falling bridge.

"He needs to pay. I'm not ready...but I will be soon." he said while looking at the knife. My eyes slightly widened. He really wasn't serious about...actually wanting to kill Snow for revenge, would he? "I need to keep fighting, and become stronger. I'll call it Operation Nora."

"Nora?" I said with confusion.

"My mom's name." he replied

"So in other words...your revenge?" questioned Light.

"Yes." he said slowly. Oh my gosh. So he was serious?

"But Hope-" he cut me off.

"Don't tell me," he continued, "I know getting revenge on him won't bring her back, but 'sorry' won't cut it." I didn't know what to say... I don't know if Snow had intentionally killed her or not, but getting back at him like this was wrong on so many levels.

"Hope..." Lightning spoke softly, trying to find the right words to say, "Snow didn't kill your mother, the Sanctum did."

"Who's side are you on?" he snapped angrily.

"The side of truth." she said as her voice slightly rose.

Hope was silent for a minute before he finally spoke. "Fine. I'll fight the Sanctum with you and I'll learn how to survive." He turned his back on us and started walking ahead.

I looked at Lightning with desperation, hoping she would know what to do. She looked back at me with a 'Sorry, don't know what I can do at this moment' look. She gestured to keep on moving. Hesitantly, I followed.

Though I felt the need to tell Hope how getting revenge on Snow wasn't right, I decided not to say anything. _Give him time_, I thought. I mean, maybe now he says he's going to, but maybe he'll come to his senses? His mom died not too long ago, he's just angry! It's Hope, for crying out loud. He wouldn't just go and kill someone like that...would he? Ugh okay, why am I so hung up on this anyways?

My thoughts were interrupted when a monster larger than the others in this place jumped out infront of us. It looked somewhat like a turtle with a huge bulb-like thing on it's back. It made a loud, obnoxious screech at us, letting us know that there was no escape and we had to fight it.

It lasted pretty long, surprisingly. It didn't seem that hard, until we figured out that the bulb in it's back can open up and turn into some sort of fan that blows us up in the air. I landed on my butt several times. Out of everything we've fought so far, I think I hated this one the most. I hated it even more than that ridiculous robot snake in Lake Bresha that I was terribly terried of. Well, thank goodness Light had Odin, right? It helped big time. After it finally died, I don't think I could've been any happier.

"Operation Nora, stage one complete." Hope said satisfied. Just give him time, Adeline....

"You two did well." said Lightning. Another rare compliment from her. We walked a little further and arrived at the coast of Palumpolum. We finally made it out of Gapra Whitewood.

"This is it right?" ask Lightning. Ahead of us we could see a clear view of the town.

"That's it." Hope nodded.

"Don't you two live here?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, but I just moved here, so I don't know my place around here that much. ...My aunt and uncle got on the Purge train...so I don't really know where they are." I cringed at the thought. It was a stupid mistake to leave them, but there's a better chance they could've survived this way. They'd could get into huge trouble with the Sanctum if they found out they were taking care of a Pulse l'Cie. Even if they were unknowingly, no one was going to believe them.

"We'll stop in by Hope's place when we get there." Lightning said.

Hope shook his head. "No...we're l'Cie and no one's there but my dad."

"You need to let him know what happened to your mom..." she said. He didn't respond, he just walked ahead again.

xxxxx

"You have to drop Operation Nora." Lightning told Hope seriously.

"No!" Hope yelled. "You told me to fight."

"I made a mistake." she said truthfully. We're in the underground part of Palumpolum at the moment. PSICOM soldiers are everywhere here, so Hope led the way since he knows shortcuts. And now, Lightning's trying to reason with Hope to forget about his Operation Nora. It's like she came to some sort of realization out of no where that fightning wasn't the only way survive, which is true.

"Look, I'm not going to abandon you." she told Hope, then looked at me. "Both of you. I won't." she promised. I nodded slowly, but Hope didn't seemed too convinced.

He obviously still wanted to get back at Snow. I glanced at him as we walked. The looked on his face just screamed he was thinking about it.

Finall finding the words to say I spoke. "Hope...Light's right. I think you should drop Operation Nora."

"What? All of a sudden you want to protect Snow?" he snapped at me.

I hesitated. "Nothing good's going to come out if you kill him."

"Says the person who ignored her parents for a whole year and called them monsters because she blamed them for the death of her brother." Oh okay, so he wants to go there?

"Excuse me?" I said as I felt anger stirring in my body

"You did the same exact thing to your parents. Why should I listen to you?"

Wow. "You don't think I feel horrible for doing that?" Seriously. I practically told him everything and now he's using it against me like this?

He sighed, "I didn't say that, I-" He got cut off as my hand made a direct contact with his cheek. I slapped him hard. I didn't want to here it.

"Hey you two, cut it out!" Lightning yelled, grabbing my wrist to pull me away from him. We both glared at each other. I jerked away from Lightning's grip.

"Never talk to me again, okay?" I said coldly to Hope. I walked off. I know, I was being such a PMSing...bitch right now. But seriously! Hope can be such a...such a guy sometimes! To think I started to like him. Yeah, I admit it. Not anymore though. He's just another whiny, inconsiderate jerk.

"Adeline!" I turned to see Lightning coming towards me. "...Come on, you know he didn't mean it."

"Look...just let me go ahead for a while. It's pretty much a straight path here, right? So I'll just meet you at the exit." I said. I just wanted to be alone for a minute. To cool down.

"Will you be okay?"

"I will be, I promise."

"...Fine. Meet at the exit. Don't leave without us." She said sternly as she walked back to wherever Hope was. I walked ahead, trying to think of something else besides the ridiculous fight I had with Hope.

My heart felt like it was aching...

xxxxx

Ahh don't kill me please? I promise, next one it will all be better, promise! Seriously, you honestly think Adeline's going to stay mad at him for a long time? Yeah right! And I will update ASAP. Maybe during the weekend though...but trust me I will work on writing the next one during the week if I have free time! I love you all :)


	9. Eidolons and Making Up

Awww have I ever mentioned how super motivated I get whenever I read everyone's comments? Haha let's just say I tend to get flattered way too easily xD Yes, well, as I promised, chapter 9!

xxxxx

**I've Got You**

**Chapter 9: Eidolons and Making Up**

Uh...I'm not lost, am I? No, I'm not! I'm totally going the right way...I think....

Even though I hate to say it, I kind of in a way wished that I didn't go ahead of Light and Hope. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm still beyond furious with Hope, no doubt about that. However, trying to fight off these annoying blob monster things by yourself can get pretty annoying. They weren't that bad, though. In fact, they were a great way to relieve my anger.

Aha! So I actually was going the right way. My feet stopped right in front of the elevator, which would lead the way back to the ground level of Palumpolum. I looked back. No sign of either Hope or Lightning. Okay...so what am I suppose to do just sit around here and wait? Great. Why should I wait anyways? I'm most definitely not in the mood to see Hope's stupid, face right now! ...No matter how sickeningly adorable it is. I did, however, promise Light I would wait for them.

I waited for maybe about...twenty minutes and they still haven't shown up! Brice was right, I am not the most pacient person ever. The thought of Brice made me think about what Hope had said to me earlier. _"Says the person who ignored her parents for a whole year and called them monsters because she blamed them for the death of her brother." _Guilt began to flood through me. Had Hope been right? In a way, that was my revenge. I thought that by ignoring them the pain of losing Brice would go away. I was completely wrong, though.

I snapped out of my thoughts. Right or wrong, he still shouldn't have said that in the first place. Not exactly thinking straight, I walked right inside the elevator. I know, I know, I broke a promise. Not good, especially if you promised someone like Lightning, who is shown to have quite the temper and hits like a man. I mean that in the nicest way possible. Seriously, I mean how cool would that be to know you're just as strong as any other guy? Yeah...anyways, I'm pretty much screwed next time I see her.

Realization just hit me. Am I retarded? Did I just really take the elevator without Lightning and Hope? Did I seriously forget that there could be a whole crowd of PSICOMs just waiting to kill me right after I took one step outside, and I would have to try and fight them _alone_? Oh my gosh. I am stupid! Okay, wait, I'm pretty sure none of them can tell if I'm a l'Cie or not. All I had to do was cover up my brand. Yeah...covering one hand with my other while walking around doesn't seem suspicious at all!

The elevator finally opened up. Nervously, I took a step out of it as it returned back down. Now there was not turning back. That's just so lovely! Not. I looked around to find the area completely empty. There were two possibilities to this. One: The citizens were...just at other places? Two: The Sanctum is already aware that l'Cie are here and this is a trap. Well, right now I'm going to pretend that the second possibility didn't sound the most reasonable. I slowly walked around. No sign of any PSICOM soldiers. Just my luck, for now. Weird, though. This area seemed like it would be pretty busy. I looked up to see a huge screen advertising some sort of product from Moogle Works.

I continued to walk around, passing by tall buildings and what not. I shouldn't really be walking around idly in a city where PSICOMs minute and attack me, but I haven't bumped into any, so I guess I'm okay? I've passed by a few people, but luckily all of them are too busy to even knowledge my exsistence. Maybe...I should go back to see if Lightning and Hope successfully took the elevator. They probably did though. It's been like half and hour already.

"In a recent emergency conference..." said a voice coming from somewhere. I looked arount and spotted another one of those television screens on one of the buildings. A crowd of people were now swarming around me to take a look at the screen. "The Sanctum has announced that the fugitive l'Cie have been located. The military plans to aprehend the l'Cie and carry out a public execution. These images coming to you live from the scene in Palumpolum." A birds eye view shot of Hope and Lightning were shown on the screen, at the same exact place I was at when I got out of the elevator. Oh no...not good....

"It has been confirmed that a city evacuation is mandatory. Please remain calm as directed by security force personnel." The announcer said, whoever he was. Obviously, nobody was calm. Everyone around me was freaking out. Kids were crying, being comforted by their parents, who were also just as scared. A group of three soldiers already made there way to the area I was at.

"I want everyone to form a straight line this instant!" One commanded. People were timidly lining up. Fear was written all over on all of their faces.

"Miss, I'm not going to ask you again. Get in line!" I looked to find another grabbing my arm. I jerked away. He pointed his gun at me. "I don't have any other choice." I muttered under my breath. My brand began to glow as I blasted him away from me. The other two were attempting to corner me, but I got rid of them fairly easily. I heard the shocked gasps of the citizens.

"Uh...hey listen I'm not going to-" I was quickly cut off by one who spoke up.

"Stay away from us, you monster!" A lady shakily shouted at me. A man near here picked up one of the guns that belonged to one of the soldiers and pointed it straight at me. I sighed. So this is how my parents felt when I called them that....doesn't feel good at all. Seeing there was no way to convince these people I wasn't going to hurt them, I ran. Fast. I could here footsteps behind me and faint screams yelling "Get her!" and other things.

I was running as fast as I could. I quickly turned a corner, hoping that I could lose them for a while. They went straight ahead. I gave out a sigh of relief. I lost them, for now. Was there any point in running anymore? They're going to find me eventually, and if not them, the PSICOMs for sure will. Sure I can get rid of some, but who knows how many there's going to be next time? It was about time that I just face my fate. There was no way I was going to survive. Why bother, anyways? I don't have anything anymore. Brice is gone, so are my parents, possibly my aunt and uncle are too, maybe...even Lightning and Hope. Hope hates me now anyways.

"Ugh...I give up!" I yelled to no one. Suddenly my right hand began to sting a little bit. I looked at my l'Cie brand to find it shining brightly. ...What on earth was going on? I saw a crystal shaped like a butterfly glowing. In a few seconds, it began to get brighter, almost blinding me. I groaned as my hand stinged in pain. The brightness faded. I looked up to see a giant, serpant-like dragon right infront of me. Holy sh-this is my Eidolon? That's nice, it just had to appear in a city where I'm being hunted down, that's cool. There's no possible way I could get away from this. I took out my sword-whip, ready to fight this, alone.

It roared at me loudly. I groaned in pain. I didn't even attack me or anything, but for some strange reason I felt like I was a ticking bomb. As in, if I didn't prove myself worthy to this thing, I'm done. Quickly I casted a Poisonaga spell. It growled as it started forming a tsunami. I got caught in it. I was terrified. Like I said before, drowning is one of my biggest fears. I fell back down to the ground, trying to shake the pain off. I started casting thunder spells, which was clearly it's weakness. Throughout the battle, I was switching from attacking it physically, to casting spells, and healing my self once in a while. Finally, it gave another loud roar. I smirked in triumph. It went back inside the crystal, which came back to my glowing brand.

"...Leviathan." I said randomly. Was that the name of it? Well, guess so. Weird, but after that whole little episode, I felt better in a way. Like, I don't want to give up anymore. I can't. I have a Focus to complete.

"Adeline!" I heard a familiar voice yell at me from behind. I looked back. It was Light! Thank goodness she's okay. Next to her was another women. She was extremely tall, with wavy black hair and piercing green eyes, carrying a long spear behind her back. I gulped. She looked even more intimidating then Lightning!

Light narrowed her eyes at me. "So much for promising to wait." she said. Oh, right, I totally forgot that she would be mad at me.

I looked down nervously. "I'm so sorry, Light. Next time I won-" I got cut off as she pulled me into a quick hug. Well, this is new.

She pulled away. "...Don't ever do it again." she said seriously. I smiled and nodded at her.

The other lady chuckled. "Never knew you had a soft spot." she joked as Light rolled her eyes. Her voice sounded familiar....it was sort of like Vanille's, except she was older and all. She even wore tribal like clothes! She looked at me and smirked. "Aren't you a little doll? Name's Fang, by the way."

I gave her a small smile. "I'm Adeline." I said. I realized something. Hope wasn't with Light anymore. "Light...where's Hope?" I asked worriedly.

"He's with Snow." she replied. Snow? He was here too? She continued to explain to me that he and Fang got here with the help from a group called the Cavalry. Apparently, it's a rebel group who are only pretending to be loyal to the Sanctum. In reality, their goal is to overthrow them.

"We have to find them quickly." said Lightning. "I think...Hope still wants to do Operation Nora." My eyes widened. Still?

"Come on then." Fang chimed in. "Let's move."

xxxxx

"Okay," said Fang as we stopped by a staircase around Felix Heights, "Let's get Snow on the line." She took on some sort of wireless communicator and put it right next to her ear. She frowned while shaking it up and down. "Ugh, damn thing's still jammed. Eh, he can take care of himself."

Light scoffed. "We'll just have to believe that." I was so worried right now. I wanted to know so badly if Hope was okay, and if he didn't get his revenge.

"Hey...if any of us got caught, they'd make some announcement, right?" I asked, trying to hide the worried tone in my voice.

"Yeah, they would." Fang said. "They'd have to let everyone know that the big, bad l'Cie can't hurt them anymore." She grinned. "Don't worry too much. I'm sure Snow's making sure your little boyfriend is safe and sound."

"Hope is _not_ my boyfriend." I said rather quickly, trying to hide my pink cheeks.

She laughed, "Whatever you say."

Fang...she was definitely no Lightning, let's just put it that way. Nonetheless, I actually did like her. She was pretty cool. Except for the fact she's teasing me about liking Hope, which I don't. We're still in a fight. Therefore...I don't like him.

Out of no where, I heard the sound of planes flying. We all looked up to find three ships zooming straight ahead of us.

"They found them." Lightning said as we all ran straight to the direction the ships were going. Ugh, I've been running all day! It would be so easy if I could just summon Leviathan and have him fly us all to wherever. But...the dragon serpent being to big and all can attract unwanted attacks from PSICOMs and even the residents of Palumpolum. Guess I just have to suck it up and run...

Finally, we found Hope and Snow. Snow was lying on the ground unconscious while Hope was trying to fight of some giant monster. Oh wonderful, another giant monster that wants to kill all of the l'Cie. The three of us all rushed over to help Hope.

"Not bad kid!" Fang complimented him, taking out her spear.

Hope looked at me with a shocked expression. "Adeline?" he said in disbelief.

I rolled my eyes. "...We can talk later." Okay, so much for never speaking to him again!

"Sure you're up to this?" Fang asked.

Light pulled out her gunblade. "Thing will never know what hit it."

With the four of us, the monster was down in a flash. Fang sure is strong. I'm pretty sure she could've taken this thing out by herself.

Right after the battle, Hope walked up to Lightning, handing her back the knife she had given him. "Um...Operation Nora didn't work out." he said. She pulled him into a motherly hug. Lightning's full of hugs today, isn't she? This is such a weird day....

"You'll be okay," she said to him, "I'll keep you safe."

"I uh-me too," he replied, "I'll try to, atleast." She smiled and playfully flicked his forehead.

"Don't forget about this one." Fang said while trying to lift up Snow.

"That one will be alright. He's to stubborn to die." Lightning joked as she helped Fang lift him up. "Come on you two. Hope, you lead the way." He nodded. He glanced at me, but I stubbornly avoided his gaze. Not even trying to make an attempt to apologize? Boys...

xxxxx

Hope was standing nervously by himself in front of his front door. He seemed unsure if he should ring the doorbell or not.

"What's taking him so long?" I asked impatiently.

"His dad works for the Sanctum. They don't get along much, so he's kind of nervous." Explained Lightning. Oh, I can see how that could be a problem.

"He's taking forever though..."

"Why don't you go and talk to him then?" said Fang.

"What? Why me?"

"Well me and Light here are a bit busy trying to make sure our "hero" doesn't fall down," she explained as both of them still had Snow lifted up, still unconscious, "Besides, you're his girlfriend. You're suppose to cheer him up."

"He's not my boyfriend!" I said. I looked at Light, hoping she would help me out.

She shook her head. "It's about time you started two apologizing. _Now._" I groaned in defeat. Slowly I walked up to Hope, grabbed his arm, and pulled him away from the door for a minute.

His eyes widened with a surprise look on his face. "Uh...Adeline..." he stammered.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He looked at my oddly. "What do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "You know what I mean..."

He hesitated for a moment. "It's just...my dad's never listened to a word I said. And...now I'm a l'Cie and he works for the Sanctum...he's not going to want me to stay."

I sighed, "He's your dad, Hope. You think he's going to pick his job over his son? You have to tell him about your mom anyways."

He nodded slowly. "Yeah...you're right. I-uh...about what happened earlier...I'm really, really sorry for saying that stuff to you. I was being such a jerk and I was just so angry and..." he continued to ramble on until I stopped him.

"Apology accepted..." I told him. "Um..sorry for slapping you."

He chuckled. "It's okay. I deserved it." Then his face turned serious. "Uh hey..." he started nervously, "will you...go with me? Like when I talk to my dad, can to stay with me?"

I smiled and nodded. "Of course." I said. He smiled back at me. He then clumsily pulled me into a hug. I blushed. Hope's not the one to usually just do stuff like this. Not that I was complaining or anything really. I smiled as a wrapped my arms around him, hugging him back.

"I'm um...glad we're not fighting anymore." He said as he pulled me closer to him, tightening his grip.

I giggled. "Yeah...me too."

"Hey! Will you two lovebirds save it for later?" Fang joked. We quickly pulled away, blushing.

I grabbed Hope's hand. "...Come on Hope. We'll talk to your dad...together."

He nodded and gave me the cutest smile ever as he rang the door bell.

xxxxx

:) I must say, I am very proud of this chapter!


	10. Puppy Love

YES FINALLY IT'S SUMMER VACATION FOR ME! Friday was the LAST day thank goodness. I have successfully completed all of my exams for my freshman year. It was pretty much the worst year ever. Well, work-wise atleast. Social-wise, on the other hand, was fun though :) Whoo now I'm a sophmore! Not like it's really any better since the stuff next year will be harder -_- But whatever, it's finally summer!

Hmm...I think a good theme song for Adeline would definitely have to be Resistance by Muse...idk why really, but it that's what I was listening to while writing the last chapter. It was like an orchestra version of it and it just seemed to fit...uhh just find it on youtube if you're curious :P

xxxxx

**I've Got You**

**Chapter 10: Puppy Love**

As soon as Hope rang the door bell, he lightly squeezed my hand. I raised my eyebrows. "Nervous?"

He smiled at me. "I was...not anymore though." We both turned our heads to the door as we heard it open. A man in about his early forties appeared at the door. Brown hair gelled back, a little bit of stubble, glasses, and a serious look on his face. This man...was Hope's dad. The only thing that was the same about them was their green eyes. Other than that, they looked totally different.

His serious face turned into a surprised one the minute he saw Hope. "Hope!" he exclaimed. He then took notice of me. "Who's this?"

"Adeline...she's a friend."

"Uhh hi...Mr. ..." Oh gosh. I just realized I never exactly knew Hope's last name. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Estheim." Hope coughed.

"Estheim! Mr. Estheim." I said a little louder than I should've. Way to make a _great_ first impression, right?

"Um dad," Hope said while struggling to find a way to tell him, "I have to tell you something...important."

His dad was silent for a minute. He noticed the nervous expression that Hope had. Then, his eyes suddenly widened as he eyed us both holding hands. What was he thinking? Oh...oh no he couldn't possibly think that... "Hope, you didn't get her-"

"N-no!" We both said simultaneously while turning pink. Apparently, Hope was completely serious when he said his dad doesn't pay any attention to him whatsoever. Hope's not like other teenage boys who can't keep their hormones under control and wants to get into every girl's pants. He's different, in a good way! Like, a super good way.

"Dad, I-well, it's not easy to say..." he paused, unsure of how to explain to his dad that his mom died. I squeezed his hand to let him know everything would be fine. "...Mom's gone." he finally spoke.

A horrid expression appeared on Mr. Estheim's face. "Let's...talk inside." he said slowly, while gesturing us to come in. His eyes gazed over us spotting Light, Fang, and a still unconscious Snow. "They can come in too..."

We made our way into Hope's house. I wasn't going to say it out loud or anything, but his house was like amazing! I'd totally kill to live here...just saying. He directed Light and Fang to a guestroom so they could finally put Snow down (seriously Snow's huge, so Fang and Lightning must be super strong or something). Then, he took my hand again and lead me to his living room where his dad was waiting.

He told his dad everything. From how his mom died to becoming a l'Cie and everything else. I felt bad for him. Having to watch is mom fall to her own death must've been extrremely painful. I held his hand throughout the whole entire time as he explained everything. Mr. Estheim totally broke down in tears.

"Nora..." he said sadly while he continued to cried softly.

"Dad I-um...I know." said Hope. "I'll..be in my room." We both got up slowly and walked halfway out of the living room until he stopped in his tracks. "We're just going to rest up, then we'll leave. If they find out you're sheltering l'Cie, they'll-" he got cut off as a loud, forceful slam on the table was heard.

"You're my son." His dad said in a loud voice. "This is _your_ home." Hope looked surprised by his dad's action. He looked at me, signaling that he wanted to have a moment with his dad. I smiled at him at him and gave his hand a quick squeeze before he hesistantly walked over to the couch Mr. Estheim was sitting on. His dad smiled at him and put his hand on Hope's shoulder in a fatherly way. "_My_ son." he said proudly. Hope smiled back at him.

I quietly made my way out of the living room. I didn't want to ruin such a nice family kind of moment or anything. Right when I walked out I came face to face with Fang. I was about to scream out of surprise, but she quickly covered my mouth with her hand. "Shh.." she whispered while taking her hand back.

"Were you eavesdropping?" I whispered back.

"I wouldn't call it eavesdropping." she replied.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay then...let's go to some other room where we're not _eavesdropping_ on them."

She gave me one of those smirks she always does. "Alright, fine. Always looking out for your boyfriend, huh?" I was about to open my mouth and say something, but I let it go. I decided to ignore her little comment. We walked down the long hallway until we finally made it to another room. I examined all of the expensive furniture in the room. How much money does Hope's dad have? Oh wait, that would be rude of me to ask. I should just drop it... Fang decided to turn on the television screen to see if there's any news about us.

The television was already on the news channel. "Now for an update on the situation in Palumpolum," one of the announcers said, "the l'Cie continue their desperate flight and the military has now launched an all-out campaign to eliminate them."

"Oh yeah, just what we needed." I muttered saracastically. I continued to listen to the announcer. "In the event you must leave your home, please follow the instructions broadcast on this channel." That's when I decided to stop listening. I looked at Fang to see her observing some pictures on a dresser.

"Must be the kid's family..." She said as I followed her gaze. It was a picture of Hope, his dad, and his mom. Hope definitely took after his mom more than his dad. Her face was exactly like his. "Heh, and I guess _your _future family in-law." she mumbled teasingly.

I glared at her. "For the _last_ time he's not-" I stopped as I heard footsteps coming in. I turned around to see Hope with Lightning and Snow.

"My dad wants to see everyone." he said.

We all followed him to the living room, walking down the long hallway once again. I felt a big slam on my back. Like, the one I always got from Brice. I looked up to see Snow with that signature hero grin of his.

"So, how've you been?" he asked me.

"I've been good, you?"

"Perfect."

I smirked. "Yeah, you seemed perfectly fine unconscious and bandaged up while you had to have two girls carry you."

"...I have no clue what you're talking about." he said trying to pretend like he didn't know anything. I rolled my eyes and laughed. When we finally arrived in the living room, greetings and introductions were made to Hope's dad. I didn't really need to, since I kind of did that already. Everyone took a seat. There was kind of an awkward silence for a minute until Snow got one his knees and faced Mr. Estheim.

"The blame is all mine. I couldn't save her." he told him guiltily.

Mr. Estheim had a stunned look on his face. He was speechless and didn't know what to say. Then, Hope spoke up. "If it wasn't for Snow, I wouldn't be here right now."

He looked at Hope for a moment, than back at Snow. "Snow, did Nora...did she say anything to you?" he asked.

"Hope. Right before she died, she said to get him home."

Hope's dad nodded. "And that's exactly what you've done." Snow smiled and gave a big sigh of relief.

"So what happens now?" asked Lightning. "You working for the Sanctum and everything, there will be serious consequences if they find out what you're doing."

"I know I'm part of this." said his dad. "I'm on your side of the fence. Harborer of a l'Cie and a public enemy.

A distraught look appeared on Hope's face. "I got you dragged into this... Coming here was a bad idea."

His dad shook his head. "This is your home, remember?" he said reasurringly, getting Hope to smile a little bit.

"We're all here. Let's figure this out together." he said as he stood up. All of the sudden, the light's flickered until it was pitch black. Everyone automatically got up, taking out weapons.

"Everyone, stay quiet." Lightning commanded while pulling out her gunblade. Footsteps and engines of planes could be heard from outside and on top of the roof.

"Head's up!" she screamed as glass walls were shattered everywhere. To top it all of, sprays of smoke came coming right in, causing us to start coughing uncontrollably. PSICOM soldiers were already trying to corner us. Fang, Lightning, and I tried to get rid of all of them. I could faintly here Hope telling Snow to help his dad while he would stay here and help us out. I took a glance at Hope, only to find a PSICOM who had snuck up behind him. Thankfully, Lightning knocked him out just in time. The regular soldiers were a piece of cake, but the one's with the jetpack things were kind of tricky. Yeah, I bet they thought they were so cool flying around with their little jetpack things! Well, they're not. I proudly blasted the last one to his death with a huge ice shard trick I figured out how to do.

It was quiet once again as we were all ducked down, taking quick peaks outside of the shattered windows to see if there would be anymore soldiers coming in. A bright light began to shine on our faces. I squinted my eyes the closer the light came. Then, another group of soldiers surrounded the house. The light began dim away, only to see a huge airship right behind the PSICOM.

"Ugh, who ordered the battalion?" said Fang. Lightning looked back and gestured for Snow and Mr. Estheim to get over here.

"Dad!" Hope said in relief as he ran over to him.

"Hope. Thank goodness, are you hurt?" his dad asked while putting his hands on his shoulder.

"I'm fine, how about you?"

"Still in one piece." He said as the both beamed at each other. Snow then got up muttering something like "my turn" or whatever as he walked over to take a peak outside. He took of his coat and held it out and open through the window. Multiple shoots went towards the coat, but the coat stayed in perfect shape. What the...yeah fine I'll just ask about that later.

"Don't shoot!" he yelled. "I'll show you what a l'Cie looks like." he said bravely. The shooting stopped. He slowly walked outside while guns were still pointing at him. He tried to reason with them that he was flesh and blood just like them. That he was just an oridinary citizen and Cocoon was his home. That we want to protect Cocoon just as much as they do. They soldiers were completely baffled as they started to talk among each other. Things like "Is he on our side?" and "He's lying! This is just a trick." were heard from them. Their talking stopped, however, as someone else came out of the ship.

"So, you must be Snow Villiers." said the mysterious voice. Footsteps came closer as we got a better view of a man with gray hair tied back into a high ponytail. ...Ew. Sorry, but guys with ponytails have always bothered me. It's like, a huge pet peeve and exactly why I forbidded Brice to ever get one. No matter how much he tried to convince me.

"Yaag Rosch, PSICOM Division," he spoke, "I understand your plight. However, the Pulse threat is not easily dismissed. Do you think your life is worth more than the lives of millions of Cocoon citizens?" he questioned us. "I certainly do not. Without sacrifice, without Purge, Cocoon will die!" Before he could say anything else, a couple of smoke bombs were thrown out infront of him and his soldiers. The smoke began to spread around, making them cough and wheeze.

"Who fired?" Rosch said angrily. "I gave no order!" There were explosions and guns being fired that could be heard.

"We're leaving!" yelled Lightning. "Hope! Tie up your dad." She then directed her attention to his dad. "We threatened you and forced you to help us. Got it?"

He looked a little reluctant. "There must be somthing else-" he tried to reason until Hope cut him off.

"Do what she says! I can't let you get dragged into this." he told his dad who had gave in while he started to tie him up. "We'll find a way survive somehow. I promise you that." His dad nodded. Out of no where he gave his dad a big hug. Aww. Well that's good to know that there's finally an bond between both of them. I focused my attention to outside as I saw a huge skytank right infront of Snow. Yeah, yeah I definitely know where this is going. We all rushed over to Snow.

"Our turn now, hero." Lightning said as all of us went in for a fight while leaving Snow to regain his energy seeing that he hasn't fully recovered.

A skytank. A giant one. When's the last time I've fought one of these? Oh that's right, never. It was definitely not easy to take down. Lightning, Hope, and I all casted different magic stuff on it while Fang provoked it and made all of it's missles go straight towards her. She didn't even flinch once. We took a couple of hits from it, but it was all good since I learned that I could heal people. These l'Cie powers seem to become more fun to use everytime. Finally, the skytank crashed as we did one more hit. I was totally out of breathe. Then, another large airship was landing right infront of us. Seriously? Another one?

The door opened. Four soldiers marched out, but their guns were down. Then, one more came out and marched straight towards us as the others made way for him. What on earth was going on? I felt Hope put his arm around me protectively. I looked at him and smiled widely. He looked back and smiled nervously while his face started to heat up. I giggled quietly. Even though it was pretty dark outside, I could still see his face extremely red. Ugh, he's just unbearably sweet I could just kiss him. Whoa, wait, did I just seriously think that? Well...I guess I just did, and I guess I really do like Hope. As in _like like _him. I smiled to myself.

_Ha, I so knew it._

...Yeah no shit of course you would know it! You're my concsious.

_You didn't listen to me before when I tried to tell you..._

Maybe because I didn't feel like it.

I stopped fighting with my concsious (I talked with my concsious, what the hell is wrong with me) when the soldier took of his helmet.

"Heya Fang." said the guy. He looked about Snow's age and had long shaggy brown hair. "Need a ride?" he winked at her.

She rolled her eyes as she drew back her spear. "Don't get cute. Right, let's move it." she said signaling to us that it was okay. Oh, I get it. He must be one of those Cavalry people Lightning mentioned earlier. We started to make our way to the airship, but Hope stopped for a minute and looked back at his dad.

"Take care, Dad." he said quietly before we walked in. He still looked a little uneasy leaving his dad. I pulled him into a tight hug. I heard him quickly take in a sharp breath before hugging me back. I pulled away and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, your dad will be fine." He smiled back at me and nodded. We let go of each other right when we heard a cough from behind. Fang stood their smirking at us. Of all people, it had to be her, didn't it?

"I'll just-I need to go ask Snow something." Hope muttered quickly as he walked towards Snow while trying to hide his pink cheeks.

I scowled at Fang while she was still smirking. "So, you don't like him?"

"Nope. I _like like_ him." I admitted it. "...You're not going to tell him are you?"

She chuckled. "Nah, I'm just going to have to make you tell him...eventually." I groaned. Typical her.

xxxxx

Aw she finally admits it! Haha :)


	11. Late Night Talks & Promises

Hey everyone! Ahh I was actually planning to update like a lot sooner, but I think this summer I've reached a new level of lazy xD Don't worry, I'll stop being lazy, just for you guys! Seriously, I can't thank you guys enough for always reading this, giving me amazing reviews and advice...you're all so sweet! Haha, so enjoy chapter 11. This is a filler chapter, but whatever I think you all will probably like it :D

xxxxx

**I've Got You**

**Chapter 11: Late Night Talks and Pinky Swears**

I. Can't. Sleep.

Why the heck can I not get to sleep? Everyone else can just fall asleep in a snap, but me? I've been trying to for the past hour! I fell asleep for maybe like ten minutes until I woke up wide awake. Maybe...because I'm on an airship? The Lindblum, to be exact. This airship is enormous. Plus, the soldiers don't try to kill us! Okay, back to my sleeping problem. Well, it's not like the beds aren't comfortable or anything. In fact, this bed is probably more comfortable than my old one at home. Comfortable beds obviously equal an automatic peaceful sleep. Maybe...it's Snow's interminable snoring? No...I'm used to loud snoring. Believe me.

All of a sudden I heard something growling. My heart started rapidly beating. What was that... Oh. It was...just my stomach. My own stomach scared the crap of me? Wow. Now it all makes sense though! I'm just extremely hungry, that's why I can't sleep. If I don't recall, I remember passing by this room in the airship that conveniently had a fridge. This place just has everything, doesn't it? I got off my bed and tiptoed my way to the door, making sure I didn't wake anyone up. The door slid right open and quietly closed.

I found myself going around in circles until I finally found it. I happily walked straight into the room. I switched on the light and froze when I saw Hope with a chip halfway inside his mouth. I didn't really know if I found this situation awkward or hilarious...or both. How does he even see in the dark so easily?

"This...isn't what it looks like..." he said slowly.

I smirked as I saw a few other wrappers on the floor. "Junk food, Hope? Really? Most likely there's going to be some big bad monster that wants to kill us tomorrow and you decide to eat junk food at like one in the morning?" Right after I said that, a loud growl came from my stomach. That...wasn't suppose to happen.

"Yeah, you're one to talk." he sneered.

"...Whatever," I said while taking a seat next to him, "just give me some." I lazily took a handful of chips and stuffed it in my mouth. Wait...maybe I shouldn't have done that. Hope probably thinks I'm some kind of pig now! Guys definitely do not like girls who eat like one of those obese people in an eating contest.

I found him grinning at me. "Hungry?" he teased.

"A little..." I said. I bit my lip nervously, trying to hide my embarrassment.

He took notice of this and laughed lightly. "You're so cute."

We both stopped what we were doing. Did Hope just say that _I_ was cute? I playfully smiled at him. "What'd you say?" Yeah, I know what he said. I just wanted to hear it again.

"Uh...n-nothing." he said all flustered. Oh my gosh. He thinks I'm cute! That means he might like me too? Maybe...I hope! If he wasn't here right now, I'd probably be squealing like an idiot.

"I think you're cute too, Hope." I told him, making him more and more flustered by the second. Well, as much as I love teasing him, I think I'll change the subject, for his sake. "Soo...did you know that you can tell how long you have to complete your focus by looking at your brand?"

He looked at me with amazement. "Seriously? How?"

"Fang told me that more arrows will start to appear, then there will be a closed eye. When the eye opens, you turn into a Cie'th." I said while examining my own. I could see the closed eye slowly starting to form. I still had plenty of time, according to Fang.

"Really? How does mine look?" he pointed to his wrist where his brand was.

"It looks exactly like mine, so you're good for now."

He sighed. "That's a relief." It was quiet for a whole minute until I decided to ask him a random question.

"You're not ever going to get your hair in like...a ponytail, right?"

He gave me a strange look. "Um, no?"

"Good." I smiled happily.

"Why?"

"Because... guys with ponytails look weird!"

"Yeah, that's true." he chuckled. "I hate it when they just leave it down though and it's all super long and flowy."

"Oh gosh, I know! Oh, but what about guys who like have a mustache, beard, and really long hair all connected to each other? That's probably the worst!" I exclaimed.

"Definitely gross." he nodded in agreement.

We continued to talk about the most random things we could possibly think of while eating junk food and drinking soda. It was probably like three in the morning, but with all the sugar we've consumed, it would be impossible for us to sleep anyways. I never knew how much stuff Hope and I had in common. This just proves that he would make the perfect boyfriend!

Right now, we were pretty much just taking turns asking each other random questions.

"Chocobos or Moogles?" he asked me.

"Oh that's a hard one. Hmm...Chocobos because they're slightly more cuter and when they get older you can ride them around anywhere. Besides, I use to always beg my parents for one when I was like five."

"Same here...okay your turn." he said.

"Okay...when's your birthday?"

"January 17, you?"

"March 6."

"Ha, I'm older than you." he said smirking.

I pouted. "Doesn't matter..." Come on, I had to think of a better comeback. "You know for a guy, you're kind of short."

He blushed. "N-no I'm not!" he said.

"Hmm someone's in denial."

"I'm taller than you!"

"Yeah, but I already know I'm kind of short, and you're not taller by that much. Maybe like, three inches?"

"That's a lot..." he said trying to sound convincing.

"You wish!" I laughed as he turned more red. Then, as if some light bulb turned on in his head, he started to smile mischievously. I looked at him oddly. What was he thinking? He got out of his chair and started walking towards me.

"Hope what are you-" I stopped in the middle of my sentence as he put both his hands on my sides and began to tickle me. I started laughing and squeaking uncontrollably.

"Hope...Hope s-stop...please!"

"I don't think so."

"Come on...everyone's already asleep!"

"Good point, but you have to say you're sorry first."

"F-fine! I'm sorry!" I managed to say.

"See, that wasn't so hard." he beamed. He stopped as I tried to catch my breath. After I finally caught my breath I glared at him as he went to the fridge. I know it's not good to get back at people, but I really don't care. I sneaked up on him, and right as he turned around I started to tickle him, causing him to drop the can of soda he was holding. He was cracking up furiously.

"H-hey I stopped tickling you!"

"I know, this is just payback."

"Adeline please!" he whined. I saw his legs shaking, like he was about to fall down any minute from laughing.

"Well...okay, but you have to admit you're short and you have to promise you won't start tickling me."

"Okay...okay! I p-promise."

"...And?"

"And...I'm...short." I smirked as I stopped tickling him. "See, that wasn't so hard." I mocked him. He smiled at me while rolling his eyes.

"I'm kind of surprised we haven't woken up anyone." he said.

"Well...we weren't _that_ loud." I joked.

He laughed. "If you say so."

We decided to clean everything up now. I think it's almost four or something. Doesn't really matter though, I had way too much fun with Hope.

"Hey, Adeline?"

"Yeah?"

"I"m...really glad that I met you." An astonished look spread across my face.

"Really?"

He looked away, all flustered again. "Well..yeah. I mean, I guess you're like my best friend now."

I wanted to so badly make an attempt to hide my idiotic smile, but it was impossible. "What do you mean you _guess?_"

"Oh sorry, you _are_ my best friend." He chuckled.

I beamed. "You're my best friend too." Yeah...well okay so far he just thinks of us as friends. Not that it's a bad thing or anything. I mean, I _am _his best friend and all. Well, I'm fine with that, for now!

"Okay, well as your best friend then, I promise that I'll always be there for you." he said in a somewhat serious tone.

"Pinky swear?" I said smiling as I extended out my pinky towards him.

"...Seriously? Do I have to?" He asked reluctantly.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to find a new best friend."

He sighed in defeat as he wrapped his around mine. I smiled. "Perfect, now it's official."

We eventually got tired and quietly went back inside the room to finally get some sleep. I pretty much collapsed onto my bed and fell asleep in less than a second. This bed...super comfy.

xxxxx

"Hey, come on kid, wake up." I heard a voice, while feeling someone shaking me.

I groaned. "Give me five more minutes...or an hour." However, that didn't stop the shaking. Oh, I give up. I opened my eyes and got up to find Snow grinning with Lightning right beside him.

"Finally." I heard Light mutter.

"Great, now I have to wake up the other kid." Snow said as he walked over to Hope, who was still sleeping. Then, Light shot a suspicious glare at me.

"Exactly what time did you and Hope sleep last night?" she asked. Oh shit. Of course Lightning would know who sneaks out of the room. If she knows when someone is about to attack her from like half a mile away, then she definitely knows if someone is sneaking out of the same room she's in.

"Not...that late." I lied. She was about to say something, but got caught off no other than Fang.

"Not late my ass!" she said laughing. "It sounded like you and your boyfriend were having a little too much fun."

I tilted my head slightly in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. 'Hope stop please!', 'Adeline please!'" she tried imitating me and Hope.

It took me a minute to finally realize what she was getting at. "N-no you've got it all wrong. It was... a tickle fight." I said as my cheeks started to turn rosy at the thought of what she was thinking.

"Cut it out Fang." said Lightning. I smiled thankfully at her.

"Alright, alright. Meet you at the deck." she said as she walked out.

"Thanks, Light." I told her.

She smiled faintly. "Don't mention it."

I smiled back. However, I felt a slight pain coming from my head. Oh right, I didn't get enough sleep... Won't this day be great?

xxxxx

Okay, next update will be no later than Monday for sure! Hope you liked it! :)


	12. Those Awkward Moments

Oh gosh, I'm horrible right? I know I did say I was going to update Monday...now it's been like 2 weeks, but! My computer got screwed, possibly close to wiping out EVERYTHING I had on it. Soo like we had to get someone to fix it and blah blah blah now it's perfectly fine! Hopefully I can get a much better one soon...so anyways sorry about that! Love you all! Enjoy chapter 12 :)

xxxxx

**I've Got You**

**Chapter 12: Those Awkward Moments**

We all made it to the main deck of the Lindblum. All eyes were on the many screens, currently showing off the Palemecia, "pride of the Sanctum Skyfleet." Currently where Sazh and Vanille are at the moment. The minute I heard the news, I felt so relieved to know that they were still alive. All we needed to do was sneak on the airship and rescue them before anything bad happens. Easy, right? However, as much as I want to rescue them and all, my headache is totally getting in the way of my concentration. I slept at like four in the morning and woke up at eight in the morning. Four hours of sleep...how unhealthy.

Right now, everyone else were discussing the plan on how to get on board the Palemecia with help from the commander of the Lindblum, Cid Raines. Funny, I've known about thirteen Cids before. Except, while the other Cids are old, this one's kind of young. I'd say he's about Snow's age. Plus, he's like, taller than Snow. So that's really, really tall. They're way different though. Cid's kind of quiet and reserved, while Snow's just plain loud. Cid seems to handle things in a mature manner, while Snow tends to act rash and can be super passionate about things, as if we're on some kind of soap opera or something. Well, that's what makes Snow...Snow.

I was paying no attention to what was going on right now. I was battling with my eyes, trying to make them stay open, but I wasn't exactly successful with that. I felt Hope lightly nudge me as I jerked up and turned to face him tiredly.

"Are you okay?" he asked with concerned eyes.

I smiled at him drowsily. How cute is he? "Yeah...I'm just really tired and my head hurts kind of. Aren't you tired? We stayed up for the whole night pretty much."

"No...I feel fine."

"Lucky you..." I pouted.

"Didn't get enough beauty sleep?" he joked.

I decided to play along. "Yes, I didn't get enough of my beauty sleep and now I'm absolutely hideous."

He laughed. "It's okay, you don't need a beauty sleep anyways." Right after he said that he froze and his cheeks reddened. I raised my eyebrows. What was he so embarrassed abouth this time... Then, it hit me.

"What?" I said while grinning widely, pretending that I had no clue what he was talking about.

"...Forget about it..." he said as his eyes were focused on a random tile on the floor.

"Cute _and _beautiful, huh?" I teased. He was silent, shifting back and forth uncomfortably. I really don't know why, but whenever Hope gets embarrassed, it's like the cutest thing ever. He's like a little puppy or something, because no matter what he does, it's always adorable.

"So, did you hear anything about your dad yet?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's alright. Another Cavalry unit took him somewhere safe." He smiled widely.

I smiled back. "That's good." He nodded back happily. See? Way too cute. I wondered, should I like, tell him? Well, you know, whenever the "time is right." I don't exactly know when that will be, though. I've got to know first, does he like me? Ugh, things would be so easier if I _knew_ if he liked me.

Lightning walked over to us. "Okay, it's time to leave." she said. Already? Great. I guess that's okay since I'm not really tired anymore... We all walked over to where Rygdea, second in command of the Lindblum, was.

"This baby back here's a PSICOM vessel." he said gesturing to a small looking airship. Definitely not the biggest, but it looked like it could fit all of us inside. "It'll deliver you the Palecmecia."

"Oh, we're cargo now?" Snow joked.

"Let me guess, there's going to be a whole lot of PSICOMs that we're going to run into?" I asked. Rhetorical question, I already know the answer, but who knows. Maybe they're all on a break. Yeah, right.

"The whole division's probably on board. Most likely we're going to have to take every last one of them down." said Lightning. Oh yay, taking down more PSICOM soldiers. It's become a new hobby of mine recently.

"I don't care how many lackeys they've got. Bring 'em on! Vanille's in there." Fang said, fearless as usual. Oh yeah, I was totally right about the whole her-knowing-Vanille thing. They're from Pulse. The Pulse. Also known as the living hell. Funny thing is, Fang says the same thing about Cocoon. I guess both worlds really aren't that different from each other as I've thought before.

"I'm sure she's fine." Hope assured her. "Vanille's tougher than I could ever be."

Lightning raised her eyebrows. "Hope, are you scared?"

"Yeah, I'm terrified. But I have you, Adeline, and this guy, and Fang." he said. I gave him a funny look, as he referred Snow to "this guy." "We're all in this mess. We've got to stick together." he added. I smirked. A little cheesy there, Hope.

Rygdea chuckled. "Alright, enough with all this bonding. It's time to go." We all followed him into the ship. I could faintly hear Snow ask Hope, "What do you mean by 'this guy?'" from behind. The inside of the airship looked totally cramped, but I guess we could manage. I was just hoping that it wouldn't go crashing down like the last time we were in one with Sazh driving it. I shuddered at that horrifying memory.

"Well, this is a problem." Snow said.

"What is?" I asked curiously. Is it because Snow's like a giant, and therefore takes up most space in here? That was actually I pretty good guess, I must say.

"There are only four passenger seats." he replied. Oh darn, I was wrong. He was right, though. There was one seat for the pilot, which was for Rygdea, and only four seats for passengers.

"Easy. We'll just have to have two people share a seat. Two _short _people. Problem solved." said Fang, eyeing me. What was she... _Oh, god no._

"No way, Fang." I said sternly. I already knew what her devious mind was thinking, and it's not happening. "The seats are way too small anyways for two people to share."

"Oh please, I'm not an idiot. That's why you should just sit on him."

"_What!_" Me and Hope said stimultaneously. Hope's face turned really pale. I looked around at the others for help. Come on, this is a ridiculous idea! First of all it would be the most awkward thing ever. Plus, what if he thinks I'm fat or something? I ate way too much last night.

"How about I just stand? Really, I don't mind." Snow offered. I smiled. Just like my brother.

Rygdea shook his head. "No standing allowed here, sorry. It's dangerous. Besides, I have to follow the rules." he said with an apologetic look. Rules? Really? You're trying to overthrow the Sanctum and yet you're following safety rules? Ugh, the world is totally against me. I gave Light a desperate look, seeing as she was my only hope

"It's only going to be for a little while. You can manage, okay?" ...So much for that. I was about to protest, but then I realized this is Lightning I would be dealing with, and that wouldn't turn out so well for me.

"We'll be there in no time. Twenty minutes at the most." said Snow, trying to lighten this totally horrible moment. Twenty long, agonizing, embarrassing minutes.

There was no way getting out of this. "...Okay, fine." Yeah, it's official. We haven't even started flying and I already know that this ride will be way worse when we crashed into Vile Peaks. Hope and I just stared at the seat while everyone else took theirs.

"So how should we..." he said nervously.

"It's too small for us to just both sit on it..."

"Oh..well I guess you just have to...you know."

"You mean...what Fang said?"

"Y-yeah, since there's not really any other way."

"Oh. Um, yeah, okay. It's no big deal right?" I lied. It _was _a big deal. Bigger than big. He nodded and slowly took his seat. Okay...what do I do? I awkwardly sat down on his lap. Awkward, awkward, awkward...that's the only word to describe the feeling... Like, I was just sitting...on _him_! I could already tell that Fang was most likely laughing to herself. This is so her fault.

"Are you...comfortable?" I heard him ask.

"What? Uh...yeah." I said, making no eye contact whatsoever. This is the most embarrassing moment of my life. The airship hasn't even started to move yet, and it's going to be twenty minutes long... Kill me.

"Alright," said Rygdea, "is everyone ready?"

"Yes." I said almost immediately. Please, just start it already! I just want to get this over with, and forget that this ever happened. I heard the sweet sound of the engine firing up. Finally. Suddenly, I felt one of Hope's arm go around my waist. Instantly, I flinched.

"Hope?" I squeaked out of surprise.

"...Don't want you to fall off or anything." He said quickly. I blushed, hoping that he wouldn't notice. He began to remove his arm. "If it makes you uncomfortable I'll just-"

"No it's fine." I cut him off. That didn't sound like I was desperate or something, did it? I mean, I'm not going to lie, but it's not that I mind really. Because, seriously, I don't. In fact, I kind of loved it. Actually, no. I just loved it.

"O-okay." He stammered, wrapping it around me again. I looked in the direction of Fang, who had her signature smirk all over her face. I swear...one day I'll get her back, if that's even possible. Then again, she can just stab me with her spear and I'm dead in a second. That spear is even taller than her, which, obviously, is a lot taller than me. I hate being so short.

For the whole ride, Hope and I didn't say a word to each other. There wasn't anything to say really. Weird, when put in an awkward situation, people tend to not talk at all. They think that by not talking, things will seem less weird. In reality, it actually makes it ten times worse and more awkward than it was before. That's so confusing, but strangely, I understand it though.

I looked outside the window to see the Palemecia right ahead of us. I sighed in relief, knowing that this whole thing will be over and put behind us. However, it wasn't _that_ bad. Hope's arm was around me literally the whole time, and there was nothing wrong with that, was there?

Our small airship landed carefully on the main deck of the Palemecia.

"Here we are," Rgydea spoke, "now go put those PSICOMs in their place."

"Don't worry, we will. Thanks for everything." said Snow. I hastily hopped right off of Hope's lap as we all made our way outside, waving goodbyes to Rygdea for all he's done for us.

Right as we made our way to the middle of the deck, we stopped in our tracks once we heard some announcer speak up. "Code Red! Repeat: Code Red! Attention all crew: this is not a drill. Code Red!" Suddenly, there were three PSICOM soldiers right infront of us with guns pointing in our direction. Oh joy.

"All right, let's tear them up." Snow said.

"Stay focused, we're here for Vanille and Sazh." said Lightning, while pulling out her gunblade. It was five against three, this would be a piece of cake. Besides, this is my new hobby after all so I think I've mastered the technique of PSICOM hunting.

xxxxx

Uhh yeah I know, it's short! I feel it's short, atleast. The next chapter will be action-packed, believe me! And I PROMISE that I will update very soon. :)


	13. Reunion

Hello! I'll be honest this chapter was kind of challenging to write, and I really don't know why it was, but it turned out pretty good I guess. Oh and big thanks to Divine Wind Storm! She messaged me asking if she could draw Hope and Adeline, and I was so flattered by it. Made my day big time :) So I think I'll dedicate this chapter to her :D Enjoy chapter 13! Ooh and I see people are wondering when they're going to kiss. My answer: soon :)

BTW: Did anyone happen to catch the Cid reference in the last chapter? (If you haven't go back to the part where she was talking about Cid) Heheh just curious to know who saw it!

xxxxx

**I've Got You**

**Chapter 13: Reunion**

"I swear if anyone pushes me and I die, I'll hate you forever." I said seriously. Actually, I was just kidding. But if anyone did push for real, then I'd be pretty pissed off.

"Don't worry sweetheart, Hope will come to your rescue if that happens. Isn't that right, Hope?" Fang teased, _as always._

"Y-yeah of course..." he said blushing. We were at the External Berths of the Palamecia. First of all, it's windy, the airship is still moving, and we're kind of outside. Second of all, it's really not that hard to fall off from here. Call me crazy, but I don't think this is exactly the safest place.

Snow smirked and nudged Hope. "So kid, you have a little crush on Adeline?" ...Honestly, does he have to ask him right now? Especially for the fact that I'm right beside him? Snow... please, please don't join the dark side with Fang.

"What?" he asked with wide eyes, obviously caught off-guard. "N-no I don't."

Lightning glared at Snow and Fang. "Are you two forgetting we're on a rescue mission here? You can play matchmaker later, got it?" she said strictly. ...Later? Snow seemed to straighten up a little and didn't say a word, while Fang just grinned.

Although it was a pretty quick walk to the next room (which was inside the ship, thankfully), there were a bunch of PSICOM soldiers and these annoying little yellow droids. The droids weren't bad, but these soldiers in particular had that armor that could make them fly with their stupid little jet packs. Well you know what? Screw them.

Finally we made it inside the corridors. We were all silently pressed against a wall, making sure that we couldn't be seen by anyone. Our plan was to make sure the area was free of any PSICOM, then make a quick run for it. Unfortunately, that was all ruined by no other than Snow.

"Let us through! If you block our way, you're dead!" he said, threatening all of them. All of a sudden we heard a loud siren go off. Red lights were blinking repeatedly.

"Attention all crew: Code Green! Repeat: Code Green!"

I groaned in annoyance. "What, do you want us to die or something?"

"Well...I thought that maybe they would run." We all glowered at him.

"Did you forget that those soldiers think they're protecting Cocoon by getting rid of l'Cie? Or did that happen to slip your ego-filled head?" yelled Lightning.

"Sorry, Sis." It looked like Light was about to say something about him calling her "Sis," but closed her mouth and gestured for us to run.

Soldiers were practically everywhere we went. From the weakest ones to the highest ranks, they all had one goal: kill the l'Cie. They can never cut us any slack, can they? We fought every single one of them, and trust me, there was a lot. Right when one group was done, another one was right around the corner. There just had to be so many hallways in here. Good thing I'm not tired anymore, right?

"Code Purple! I repeat: Code Purple! Security breach! All units on alert!" another PSICOM announced as we turned to another corner.

"What are all these colors suppose to mean?" Hope asked curiously.

"Means we're doing our job. A lot of PSICOM guys are really nervous now." Fang said confidently.

I looked to my left to see another door. "Where do you think that leads to?"

"Doesn't matter, it's the only place to go right now." said Lightning. We walked into another enormous room. The exit was on the other side. Did I mention this room was huge? It get's better though. The whole room was filled with soldiers, small annoying robots, and I could've sworn I saw some weird looking turtle thing.

Let me just say, it was not easy to get out of here. We were running around in circles, literally. Maybe because of the fact that this happened to be a circular shaped room. Anything that came across our way was down in a second...or minutes perhaps. We did manage to escape from a few soldiers, thank goodness. When we made it to the other side, the door led to outside on the deck.

"The wind seems to be dying down." said Hope. He was right. It was no where near as windy as it was the last time we were outside. That's weird, why would they be slowing down the airship?

"You're right..." Lightning agreed. "They're up to something, that's for sure."

"Maybe it could be good luck?" said Snow. Right after that a couple of tiny droids appeared in front of us.

"I'm pretty sure that isn't good luck." I told Snow, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, more like bad luck." Fang scoffed.

"We're just going to have to turn the tables here. Besides, those little things aren't even close to being a threat." said Light. She was right. There was nothing on this deck except for stupid droids and maybe like two big ones. Nothing big to worry about. We did however, come to a stop when this big yellow, bird-like monster came flying towards us. It looked kind of similar to the one we fought back in the ruins around Lake Bresha.

It shrieked wildly at us. It was glowing bright with lightning near it's wings. It would continuously swoop down to attack us, but most of the time it was in the sky. There were the occasional bolts of lightning that we had to avoid...or else. We pretty much shot a few spells at it the whole time. Lightning, Fang, and Snow would occasionally jump up and get a few hits. It must be lucky to be so tall... Finally after a few minutes, it fell down lifeless, it's body slipping right off of the airship. Right when that one fell down, unfortunately another one came flying up.

"One big fat stroke of luck after another." Snow said sarcastically. It flew right over us, probably just trying to tease us. We heard a loud explosion from the inside of the ship. It seemed like a wall was broken down, and smoke was everywhere. I spotted a yellow speck coming out from the smoke. I squinted my eyes to get a better view of a tiny Chocobo chick. There's only one person I know who would bring an innocent creature into all of this and keep it safe...particular safe inside his afro. Sazh. I was correct as I saw him chasing after the little chick, Vanille following close behind. I smiled happily. I'm so glad that they were okay.

"Vanille!" Fang shouted.

Vanille looked up surprised, yet extremely happy. "Fang!" she yelled back excitedly while running over to her. Sadly, their little reunion was cut short as the bird came flying back from behind them.

"There you are." said Snow.

"Miss me?" Sazh asked.

"Not you, the monster!"

"What? Where?" he panicked turning around quickly. I let out a small laugh. Same _old_ Sazh. This time, I don't think the monster was that hard to kill now since we're all here. And I mean seriously, seven against one? I think I know who's going to win. Like the last one, the great bird fell down with it's electric glow fading away.

Fang walked over to Vanille once again to pull her into a sisterly hug. She then turned her around and crouched down to lift up her skirt. Quickly, everyone else looked away. I pretty much covered my whole face with my hands. I'm not a fan of looking at those kind of things, if you know what I mean.

I heard Fang give out a big sigh of relief. "You've still got time." Time? Oh, so _that's_ where Vanille's brand is. "Making me worry like that! We'll talk later, missy." she said in a stern voice as Vanille nodded.

"...So," Sazh spoke up. Way to ruin a nice moment... "What's on the agenda now?"

"Getting rid of the Sanctum." Snow said in a determined voice.

Sazh looked as if he thought he was joking. "No, seriously."

"He's serious," said Lightning, "We're going to take down the Sanctum and give Cocoon back to the people."

"If we pull this off, it would be a miracle." said Hope.

Fang looked up in the sky and grinned. "Well, good thing lady luck's on our side." she said as more of the giant bird-like creatures flew above us.

"This is getting really old." Sazh groaned.

I looked at her strangely. "How is this luck?"

"You'll see, Gran Pulse style! Vanille, go fish." she ordered.

"Right!" she said as she pulled out her binding rod. Four long wires extended towards one of the flying monsters until it wrapped around it's neck, preventing it from moving forward. Fang ran over to jump on it, slamming her spear right on top of it's back. The poor creature struggled to escape, but failed.

"That's a good girl." Fang said, smiling in triumph.

"Come on let's get on!" Vanille said. We all ran over and climbed over the back of the huge beast.

"Okay, here we go!" said Fang as the bird rose off the ground.

It wasn't exactly the most comfortable flight ever. Although, it was kind of fun. How many times can you say you've rode on a giant dragon bird thing? We had to hold on pretty tight to this scaly monster. Poor Sazh was desperately holding on to it for his dear life. Due to a little accident from all the turning and wind blowing in all directions, let's just say he kind of slipped off. Now, he's holding on to just it's tail while everyone else was still on it's back! Even through the noisy wind, I could still hear him screaming.

Fang chuckled. "Believe in Lady Luck now?" she asked him.

"Yeah, Lady _Bad _Luck!"

It wasn't just the wind that made it hard to fly. There were also soldiers inside smaller airships trying to shoot at us nonstop. The bird was taking most of the hits for us. Even though it was trying to kill us along with it's friends, I _did_ feel a little sorry for it.

"Jump!" I heard Fang yell.

"Jump! Are you kidding me?" Sazh protested.

"Fine, you can just stay on this big guy and hope the PSICOM doesn't kill you."

"Oh, fine!" he said in defeat. We all jumped off the bird and into the broken area of the ship with a pillar of smoke coming out from it. All of us were pretty much screaming the whole time, Sazh being the loudest. By the time I knew it, I landed flat on my butt. That hurt big time. I struggled to get up at first, until I saw a hand infront of my face. I looked up to see Hope holding his hand out. Smiling, I took his hand as he pulled me up.

Wherever we were, it seemed that there was no turning back seeing as the only way out was through a huge gate.

"Dysley's through there." I heard Light say. Galenth Dysley. He was like the voice of the Sanctum. The one who calls the shots. Whatever he says goes. He's the one who invented the idea of "purging" people who've come into contact with a l'Cie. The PSICOM soldiers practically worship at his feet, as well as all the other citizens of Cocoon. I honestly never payed too much attention to him. I mean, come on, I'm fourteen. Whenever I see him on television I get bored to death.

We walked through the gate. As it opened, Dysley was there sitting on his throne looking all high and mighty while a younger women was right by his side. Her strawberry blonde hair went all the way down to her waist and her face had soft features, but her expression was a sinister glare. Even wearing glasses she was gorgeous, and there was no denying that. I guess she was like the stereotypical evil secretary. Pretty, but totally harsh and ruthless. Something like that.

I saw Sazh looking angrily at her. "Been looking for you, Nabaat!" he yelled.

She just smiled darkly and walked straight to us. "Your Eminence, please escape. I'll cover for your retreat." she said while pulling out a baton.

"Actually, Jihl, you can leave. Or rather, take your leave. Humans really don't have any business here." he said.

Her expression turned into a shocked one. She turned around, but before she could even speak, she was hit by...magic? She dropped down to the ground. She was dead. All of us stared, horrified at what had happened as Dysley began to float in midair. Lifting up his staff, he fired at all the other soldiers in the room, killing them one by one as if they were just tiny insects. He did use magic. Which meant, he was a l'Cie just like us.

"You monster!" Snow spat out furiously. "People aren't your toys to just play around with."

"I wouldn't really call them toys. They're actually a lot more useful. Perhaps the term, tools, would be a better definition of humans." he said with a fake smile plastered on his face. "You see them all. A mindless mob drunk on fear of a few l'Cie."

Lightning drew out her sword. "If only people knew that a l'Cie was filling up their glasses."

"L'Cie? Me?" he said, amused. He began to laugh, as if Lightning was just joking around. Floating higher, he raised his staff in the air. A small silver owl flew straight towards the tip of his staff. Then, everything went white for a second. "I am much more than that, child." When the bright glow disappeared, he was no longer a human. "I am a fal'Cie!" A real fal'Cie, right in front of our own eyes. One big giant head in the middle, with two smaller heads turned upside down on each side. Crawling on four feet, which had sharp metallic claws.

"My name is Barthandelus. Leader of the Sanctum, and Lord-Sovereign of the Cocoon fal'Cie." he said, voice echoing throughout the whole room. We just stood there, frozen in fear. Even Light was looking a little scared. He laughed once again. "Your kind feared darkness, so we gave you light. You begged us for Purge, and now you reject our counsel? You must learn your place!" he roared. We all braced ourselves for a battle that would definitely be no where near easy.

xxxxx

Barthandelus...gosh I HATED fighting him in the game. So freaking annoying and it took forever. ANYWAYS, I'm going on vacation (finally) in like 2 more weeks I think? So just for you all, I'm going to give you all two chapters before I leave. Three maybe if I can. I'll try!


	14. L'Cie Camp

Hey! Okay this chapter...I don't know how about you all decide if it was good or not xD I'm not the best when it comes to the fighting scenes, but I gave it my all. :D That's what matters most after all! I'm so sorry it took so long! It was a pretty challenging one to write for some reason I guess. Don't worry though, one OR two chapters will be up before Thursday, but I hope you enjoy this like all the others :)

xxxxx

**I've Got You**

**Chapter 14: L'Cie Camp**

Barthandelus...all along he's been the one feeding Cocoon lies. Even as a fal'Cie he's much more heartless and sinister than his human form. He was definitely the hardest thing that we've faced so far. No kidding.

He was scary strong. We had to all be extremely alert and well planned. It was perfectly clear that getting rid of the smaller heads would be the first step. All four heads were finished off quickly. Now, the battle had really begun. Lightning and Fang would go and do straightforward physical attacks. Snow, being a walking tower and all took most of his hits while being healed constantly by Vanille, who was healing us all from time to time. I was busy casting spells like Firaga and stuff like that. Hope and Sazh were buffing as all up so we wouldn't be losing a lot of strength when Barthandelus does his more stronger attacks.

I thought we were doing okay, but we weren't really. He began to laugh. He was _laughing_ at us. That can't be good. "Is that the best you've got?" he said. His eyes were glowing bright white as he began charging up his energy for a powerful blast.

"This isn't good... What should we do?" said a panicking Sazh.

"_You_ and I are going to be attacking his head. Fang and Snow, make sure you can direct the blast to you instead of us. Hope, you use magic and hit him from far away. Adeline and Vanille, you're on healing duty. We clear?" Lightning said quickly. What? All I get to do is heal? Well, it's better than guarding with Snow and Fang.

"You got it, chief!" said Fang.

Light's plan worked out pretty well. His super beam of death didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. I guess it was probably because Sazh and Lightning were hitting him so much it weakened his power? That didn't mean he was dead yet, however. I mean, he's like freaking metal so it's no surprise that he's not dead.

We kept trying to give it our all, but he still didn't fall. What the heck! Can't he just die already? I glanced at Lightning who was summoning Odin. Then, Sazh and Snow were following her lead as they summoned their own Eidolon. Perfect, I have Leviathan and I haven't summoned him at all yet! Or...was it a she? No, it looks more like a dude...I think. As soon as I was about to summon him, Snow stopped me.

"Hey just leave this to us, okay?" he told me.

"But I can-"

"You've never used your Eidolon before and you could get hurt."

"...Fine." I said reluctantly. For his information, Leviathan and I happen to share a strong bond...kind of. Oh, whatever!

It took three Eidolons to finally see Barthandelus fall down. It _could've _been four, but no, it didn't happen. ...Yeah okay I'll drop it. I watched Barthandelus's eyes lose it's glow as he vanished into thin air. So...he was dead, right?

"As I said." Dysley's voice rumbled, even shaking the ground. Seriously he's still alive? "I am Lord Sovereign." He appeared in his human form floating down, coming closer towards us.

"Looks like fal'Cie don't go down easy as the rest of us." Sazh said saracastically.

"Ease is not the issue. You have not fought to win. I'm sure you all know already the sure way of destroying our kind." he said. What is he talking about?

"Ragnarok." he spoke.

"What's Ragnarok?" Fang said confused. All of a sudden, she groaned in pain as she clutched her white brand. Wait...Ragnarok. I saw it in a dream I had. I just so happened to have that dream the night before I woke up as a l'Cie.

"It seems that you have forgotton your focus." he spoke. He lifted up his finger, slowly moving it as he pointed at all of us one by one. "Ragnarok is the beast one of you must become in order to lay waste to Cocoon." That's what my whole dream was pretty much about. I remember seeing Ragnarok furiously destroying Cocoon with all of it's people.

"Sound familiar? You've all had the dream." he laughed. "Defeat Orphan, destroy Cocoon, and then you will complete your Focus."

"Orphan?" said Lightning.

"The source of Cocoon's power. If you destroy it, you'll release a force that this world has never seen."

Snow took out a blue tear shaped crystal from his coat. "Serah asked us to save Cocoon before she turned to crystal. That's what we're going to do! That's our Focus-" he was cut of by Barthandelus's dark laugh.

"The moment you arrived, your friend wept crystal tears. This was because her Focus required that you be brought together. That girl did nothing but assemble the tools for the destruction of Cocoon." Snow seemed taken aback by this as he just stood there speechless.

The room began to shake again. From above, Barthandelus's owl was flying to us, it's size gradually increasing. Before our very eyes it was now a giant airship.

"Run, l'Cie. See how stark reality really is!" he said, disappearing once again.

"Come on, let's go." Lightning said as she walked to the airship. It looks like we didn't have any choice really. We all ran inside. Thankfully, there were enough seats for all of us. In other words, I don't have to share with Hope again, even though it wasn't _that _bad.

We soared out of the Palamecia, which was already breaking apart. "Oh, this isn't good. The yoke's jammed!" I heard Sazh say. He had no control of it whatsoever. It's as if it was moving by itself.

"I knew this was some kind of trap!" said Snow.

"Something's coming!" Hope yelled. We looked back to see another ship firing missles at us. The ship quickly dodged all the missles being fired, spinning up and down, left to right. It even began to fire its own bullets at the other airship.

"Sazh can't you do anything?" I asked.

"This ship's got a mind of it's own. I give up!" he said.

"Some ex-pilot you are." I mumbled. Hope seemed to have heard this comment and smirked at me.

"Be nice." he joked. I smiled back at him. At first, Brice was the only one who could make me smile in bad situations like this. He's not the only one anymore, I guess.

The airship behind us still kept blasting missles at us, until we flew into this weird transparent area that appeared out of no where. It was like some sort of shield that no one else could get through. I looked back to see that the other ship wasn't flying after us anymore.

When we flew out of the shield, we passed by familiar tall buildings and highways. I would know this place like no other. We were in Eden. Was the owl/airship taking us straight to Orphan or something?

"Sazh look out!" Vanille screamed. We were heading straight towards a building. I closed my eyes, expecting a huge impact, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes to find that the ship has stopped. We all got out, only to find ourselves in some underground part of Eden. Atleast, I think we're still in Eden.

"Where are we?" said Light.

"It looks like a piece of Pulse." said Vanille.

Sazh gave Vanille a confused look. "Pulse? You mean like the Bodhum Vestige?"

"Why would they keep a part of Pulse under the floors?" Fang questioned.

"Maybe Dysley wanted us to see this? His owl...or whatever it is _did_ take us here." I said.

"Yeah, a place where l'Cie can accept their fate." Lightning said bitterly.

"Is our Focus really what he said it is?" Hope asked.

"Destroying Cocoon and Orphan...that's what the vision is telling us." said Sazh.

Snow was silent the whole time, even keeping his distance away from the rest of us. Vanille seemed to notice this too and called out to him.

"Mr. Hero! Cocoon calling Snow!" she said in a sing-song voice. No response. She huffed in disappointment and turned back around.

"A fal'Cie Cocoon that wants to destroy Cocoon...that's so weird." I said.

"It doesn't make any sense!" Vanille pouted.

"Maybe he's planning some grand design that we don't understand." said Hope.

Fang eyed Snow, who still hasn't said a word since we got off the airship. "Nothing from you, Snow?" she asked. Still no reply. He was just staring into space. Not literally. He was so convinced that our Focus was to save Cocoon, not crush it. We're all shocked abuot the "truth" from Barthandelus, but he seems to be taking it harder than anyone else.

"I'll go talk to him." Light uttered. She gave the rest of us a look to leave them alone for a while.

"Right, okay. So this way?" said Sazh, who lead the rest of us not too far away from them. Are Lightning and Snow going to have some kind of brother-sister moment? I smirked at the thought.

Fang and Vanille were quietly talking with each other, occasionally looking at me and then giggling. I raised my eyebrows suspiciously, but I figured it was nothing. I walked over to Hope and Sazh, who was making sure the little Chocobo wouldn't wander off anywhere. It seemed to take notice off me and flapped it's little wings towards me. I held it gently in my hands. "So is it a boy or a girl?" I asked Sazh.

He nervously scratched the back of his head. "To tell you the truth, I have no clue. I think it's a boy. He always responds when I call him 'little guy.'" I laughed as I softly stroked the "little guy's" head. He chirped happily and flew back over to Sazh. I then felt Vanille playfully push me towards Hope. What am I to her, some flimsy rag doll? Thankfully he caught me. I blushed and quickly mumbled a "thanks" and looked at a grinning Vanille.

"Oh, you're right Fang! They're perfect for each other!" she squealed in excitement. So _that_'s why they were pointing at me and giggling.

"What are you talking about?" I said innocently.

"You know! Hope you should hurry up and ask her out already. You're taking way too long!"

He shifted uncomformtably. "Uh...I-"

"Sazh you think so too, right?" she said bouncing up and down. Oh no, she's worse than Fang.

"Hey come on now, Vanille. It's not exactly your job to get them together." he told her. Who would've thought that Sazh would be my hero of the day? Before Vanille could say anything else, Lightning and Snow walked over to us, which meant we were ready to finally explore this weird "Pulse" territory.

Once we walked up the stairs we stopped for a moment. It was like the most bizarre place I've ever seen. The floors underneath us began to glow bright red. I felt my hand sting as my brand was glowing. Everyone else groaned in pain. It felt like we were being scanned or something. When it all ended, the weird buildings opened up their doors, letting out two robots. They looked no where near as advanced as the others on Cocoon, but nontheless they were still dangerous. In a flash, they fell to the ground.

"This place-it must be an Ark!" said Vanille.

"An 'Ark?'" Lightning said with confusion in her voice.

Vanille continued to speak. "Long ago, the fal'Cie on Gran Pulse were afraid of invasion from the outside. So for battle preparations they created an army of living weapons. They stored them in Arks and scattered them all over the world."

"They said that they were suppose to have a more practical purpose. To force l'Cie into mastering their new powers." Fang followed up.

"Okay, I get it. Dysley wants us to become stronger weapons for him." said Light.

"So, like a training camp for l'Cie pretty much." I said.

"Exactly!" Hope exclaimed. "We should just think of it as training for the fights ahead."

"Hope's right!" Vanille nodded eagerly. The room was starting to shake again, and more of those one-armed robots came walking out.

Snow groaned. "Not these guys again. Come on let's go that way." He pointed to another set of stairs near us. We quickly ran up, escaping from the robots and the other weird walking weapongs that were after us.

Honestly, did the fal'Cie seriously have that much time on their hands to make millions of these Arks? This place was enormous. Sometimes we were going upstairs, the other times we went down. Like, seriously? I felt like one of those lab rats in a really big maze. Great, I just made myself hungry for cheese. As if I wasn't getting any crazier, I think I saw another figure from far away. Wait, there actually _was _someone ahead. We walked closer to get a better view. Hold up...it couldn't be..

"Raines?" said Snow.

Fang narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What are you doing here?" She had every right to be suspicious. The only person who would know about this place is Dysley. So the only way Cid could've known is if Dysley told him.

"You traitor!" Lightning screamed angrily. She ran straight to him, ready to strike him with her gunblade. He swiftly dodged her, flipped her over, and took hold of her gunblade. Shit. He brought down _Lightning_. We're in trouble.

"I put you on the path. That was _my _Focus." he said.

"You're a l'Cie?" Fang said in disbelief.

"Since long before we met. I did my best to assist you, orders from the Sanctum fal'Cie. Do you understand now? The fal'Cie have been watching your every move, guiding you every step. You all aren't dead yet because Barthandelus is making you all his weapons to dispatch Cocoon."

"A Cocoon fal'Cie." Sazh spoke up. "Why?"

"To restore the Maker."

"The Maker?"

"The one responsible for creaing both humans and fal'Cie. The Maker left this world a long time ago. While humans started war against one another, the fal'Cie focused on returning the world to it's former glory. To bring the Maker back requires a big sacrifice." Yeah "sacrifice" as in destroying Cocoon he means.

"You lied to us." Snow said bitterly. "What happened to rebuilding Cocoon for the people? Was it all a lie?"

"That was just a mere shadow of a dream when I was human. At first, I lost all hope and gave up on freedom. Seeing all of you fight brought it all back." he paused for a second as his own brand was beginning to shine. "I didn't come here because I was ordered to. I came here to challenge my fate." Using his powers, he formed an unescapable gate that circled around us. He really was no longer human as he transformed into his Cie'th form. It looked more like he was just half Cie'th and still half human.

"If I can defeat you here, than the fal'Cie's plan will fail. I can set you free!" he yelled. He's totally lost it now.

xxxxx

What is with me and ending it before they all fight a boss? Haha, sorry I know that's totally not cool and all. Expect a new chapter (or two) before Thursday :)


	15. A First For Everything

Ahh finally vacation time for me! But of course, a chapter for all of you before I leave! Wow chapter 15 already... I just want to thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing this story since day one (or whenever you started). I didn't know I would have so many people who really like it and it's all of you who motivate me to work hard on this. Sooo I'm dedicating this chapter all of you guys :) I tried to make it long for you all, and I think I succeeded!

xxxxx

**I've Got You**

**Chapter 15: A First For Everything**

"You're too slow. Try harder l'Cie!" Cid taunted us.

He was insanely fast. Not too mention strong, but not exactly strong as Barthandelus was. Being a l'Cie also, he could do pretty much everything we could do, except faster. Buff himself up, use magic, everything. The trick was to outdo him. The only big advantage he had on us was his speed, meaning that he could easily dodge our attacks. He stood in one place and started to charge up probably for some super big attack. Now was the perfect time to charge in. Lightning ran straight to him, launching him up in the air. After that, we were all just attacking him non-stop. Finally, he just gave up and fell to the ground.

He trained to maintain his balance, but failed as he fell back down. "Ironic isn't it?" he managed to speak. "All I wanted was a moment of triumph. How it ends doesn't matter." He slowly got up, stumbling a little. "Do what you think is right. _Trust yourselves._" Before our very eyes, he turned into pure crystal. Not another word from him. Snowflakes began to swirl around him. In a flash, his crystal form had disappeared.

Snow looked down. "All he wanted to do was save Cocoon his own way." he said sadly. Then, something just clicked in his mind as his head shot up suddenly. "_His own way._ That's it!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out Serah's crystal. "I've made up my mind. Maybe I'll end up Cie'th, but until that happens I'm going to make Serah proud." Aww that's so sweet. He continued, "I didn't want to admit that this tear meant good-bye, so I kept on looking for her." He put the crystal close to his heart. "But she was right here the whole time watching over me. Our Focus doesn't matter! I'm going to protect Cocoon, whatever it takes!"

"Same here." Vanille chimed in. She walked over and placed a hand over Snow's who was still holding the crystal in his hand.

I smiled. Snow did have an ego at times and usually thinks before he acts, but he's right. We should do what we want, not what the fal'Cie wants. I took a step forward and placed my hand on theirs. "I'll help too."

I felt Hope put his hand over mine. "Alright. I'm in." Then, our little Chocobo companion landed on his hand.

I heard Sazh shrug. "I guess that means I'm in too."

Snow chuckled. "When a Chocobo agrees, you know you're on the right path!" We all shared a laugh. Even Light smiled a little bit. This is such a cheesy moment we're all having. Snow gives a big motivational speech, everyone decides to not give up, we get all confident, keep fightning, blah, blah, blah.

"You can count me out." Fang said. Well, way to ruin our cheesy moment... We all turned around at her, looking surprised. "If you all want to go it on your own..." Without warning, she pulled out her spear, pointing it directly to us. "...Then so will I!"

"Fang what-" Lightning was quickly cut off by her.

"Why should we help Cocoon if they hate us for being l'Cie? I don't give a damn if they die. Better than watching a friend go Cie'th! Go ahead, get stronger and smash Cocoon out of they sky!" All of a sudden, she dropped her spear to the floor and clutched her shoulder.

Vanille looked worried. "Fang?"

"If you turn Cie'th there's no going back. I won't let it end that way!" Her brand was glowing now, and she was screaming in pain. A light shot up and formed some sort of dark purple portal. A dragon like creature came flying out. Instinctively, I pulled out my sword whip. It was right infront of us now, but it didn't try to attack or anything. Vanille ran over to her to make sure she was okay.

Fang groaned. "Come to take care of a broken l'Cie?"

"It's here to help us?" Snow asked.

"Yeah that's what Eidolons do. They 'help' put us out of our misery if we can't decide what to do next." The dragon started to formed a glowing ball in it's clawed hands and shot it straight to Fang. Snow got infront and took the hit. Luckily it didn't hurt him that much.

Fang gave us an odd look. "What are you doing?"

"Protecting one of our own." Light answered. "We can do without their brand of mercy and we don't need a fal'Cie's orders either. We're all going to fight this Focus to the end." She lended out her hand to Fang.

"Come on, Fang. It's not like you to give up so easily." I said smirking. Trust me, I would know that she never gives up on _certain_ things.

I saw that grin of hers as she grabbed Lightning's hand and got up on her feet. "Alright, let's do this."

The large beast was directing all it's focus on Fang. She wasn't that scared of it though. It's Fang for crying out loud. She just kept hitting it with her spear back and forth with ease. The rest of us didn't even have to attack that much. A final stab from her spear, and the dragon roared in pain as hit returned back into her brand. Well, that wasn't so hard.

"Hey look a new path!" Vanille said excitedly. We looked her way to find a thin crystalized bridge. "Maybe that thing did save us."

"Great, let's move!" said Snow.

After crossing the bridge, we came across a weird looking airship.

"An airship from Gran Pulse!" said Vanille.

Fang looked up and pointed a weird looking portal. "That's a gate to Gran Pulse."

Lightning shrugged. "It looks like it's our only way out of here."

"I'll be the one doing the flying then. No more ships taking charge of our travel plans anymore." Sazh said. Now that I realize it, everytime Sazh flew the plane, it ends up in a disaster. Unfortunately, he was the only one who really knows how to drive one. "The only place this think is taking us is where these boys tell it to." He said as he pointed to his muscles.

"Ha, really?" Fang scoffed. "That's a Gran Pulse ship."

"Just leave it to me!" We all walked into the ship and took our seats. This is like the fourth airship I've been on already. It's getting pretty old. I have a hunch on how this is going to end. We start flying. It seems like we're safe, but than something is going to attack us, and then we crash. It's like deja vu over and over again.

Sazh zoomed straight into the portal. It felt like we were going in warp speed or something. In a few seconds, we were at normal speed. I looked out the window to see Gran Pulse. The meadows, plateaus, bright grass, everything was just so beautiful. However, it became hard to admire the view when a giant floating, caterpillar like monster decided that it wanted to mess around with us.

"The little critter thinks we're lunch." said Fang.

"Yeah, the l'Cie food buffet." Sazh joked.

"'Cie food.' Cute" said Lightning. What...oh just kidding I get it. It's like we're sea food, but we're actually 'Cie' food! Yeah... The annoying overgrown caterpillar shattered the glass roof with it's tail. The strong wind blew Hope and Vanille right out of ship. Snow tried to grab them, but couldn't as the wind blew harder.

"Fang! Go get them!" he yelled.

"You got it!"

"Wait..." I said before she could summon her Eidolon. She looked at me. "Would it be okay if could do it?" I pointed to my brand, hoping she would get what I was saying.

She smirked at me and nodded. "Go right ahead sweetheart." I smiled back at her as my brand glowed. Leviathan appeared right infront of me as I hopped on his back. Fang, Lightning, Snow, and Sazh all got on too. Right, okay so how do I do this? Do I just tell him to fly to-whoa! As if he read my mind, he flew straight toward Hope and Vanille, catching them on his long back. Oh that's right, he's pretty much a part of me...so I guess that means he knows what I'm thinking? That's kind of cool and creepy at the same time.

"Welcome to Gran Pulse." said Fang.

Lightning scanned the surroundings until she pinpointed a safe looking place. "Adeline go land over there." she said. I nodded. Leviathan landed gently on the soft grassy land. We all got of on him. I smilled and said a quick thanks to him as he went back to my brand.

"Nice flying there, kid." said Sazh.

"Yeah, maybe I should fly the next airship instead of you." I said jokingly.

He laughed. "In your dreams."

xxxxx

We've been in Gran Pulse for two days now. This place was just so gorgeous. It was a totally different world than Cocoon. How on earth could this place be called "hell?" Oh, well there is the fact that there are Pulse monsters here that roam pretty much the whole place.

I, however, couldn't enjoy any part about this stunning place at the moment. Why? I was kind of pissed off. Not as in angry or I-want-to-kill-someone pissed, but more of the annoyed pissed. It's a really stupid reason. Beyond stupid, but...for the past two days Hope decides to spend all his time with Vanille. I mean, it's not like it's a big deal or anything. He can spend time with whoever he wants. I don't care! Why should I?

"Adeline, watch out!" I snapped out of my thoughts as Snow shot a ice shard at a wolf-like monster. Oh shit, was that thing about to attack me?

"Um..sorry. I kind of spaced out." I told him. It was early afternoon, and I decided to go with Snow to look around the plains of Gran Pulse.

He looked at me strangely. "Are you okay? You've been kind of off today."

"Really? Oh..."

"Something bothering you?"

"No not real-well actually, yeah."

"Okay, spill."

"Trust me. You're going to find it ridiculous."

:"Come on, I promise I won't laugh or anything."

I hesitated for a minute. Oh, why not? I held out my pinky. "Pinky swear?"

He chuckled at my childish action and wrapped his around mine. "Pinky swear."

"Okay...well. I don't know why it's bothering me so much...but all Hope does now is hang out with Vanille. He's only said like three words to me since we've gotten here." I said.

Snow grinned at me. "Oh I get it. You're jealous." he stated.

I shot a glare at him. "I'm _not_ jealous."

"You're bad at hiding it too." he laughed. I-I-m not jealous, am I? No! Gosh, no. He continued to talk. "Look, there's no reason to be jealous. Hope really likes you."

"How do you know that? Did he...tell you?"

"Well...he never really told me anything, but trust me. It's pretty obvious." I shrugged. I want to believe Snow, I really do, but not until it comes out from Hope's mouth...and what are the chances of that?

"Hey, why don't I take you back to camp? You should take a break for a while. I'm suppose to meet up with Lightning and Sazh there to go check out some ruins. Maybe we can actually find other humans there." he said.

"Yeah okay...and Snow? Thank you."

He smiled and playfully messed with my hair. "Don't mention it."

I smiled back. "You know...you're exactly like my brother in a lot of ways."

"Really? Your brother must've been a pretty cool guy then."

I laughed. "You could say that."

We finally arrived back at the camp. Sazh had asked my to look over the "little guy" for him while he went with Snow and Lightning. I happily agreed. Of course I'll look over this adorable Chocobo. It was so tiny and cute!

"It's just you and me little guy." I said as I scratched it's tiny head. It began to chrip and hop up and down. I smiled at how innocent it was.

"Adeline? Hey." said I voice. Oh great, it was Hope's voice. I looked up to see him. Vanille wasn't with him. What a shocker!

"Oh hey, Hope." I said. "Vanille's not with you?" I hope that didn't sound like I cared or anything. Because I didn't.

"No...she's with Fang. Why?"

"No reason."

"Okay...so...it's my turn to get food and water. Do you want to come with me?"

"No thanks"

"...Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I am." I snapped. "You can stop bothering me now." A hurt expression came across his face as he quietly nodded and left. Oh gosh...why did I say that? I shouldn't even be mad at him in the first place. If Hope likes Vanille, I can't do anything about it.

"Ugh, I can't believe I just did that." I told the Chocobo chick while softly petting it. I began to ramble on and on about my thoughts and feelings...to a _Chocobo_. How sad am I? I will admit though, he's a good listener. Eventually, I got tired talking and decided to take a short nap.

xxxxx

I officially hate myself right now. When Vanille woke me up from my nap, she said that we all had to look for Hope since he was the only one who wasn't back yet. So when we found him by the stream, he was lying down unconscious. Snow and Lightning had to carry him back to the camp. Now it was evening, and he still hasn't woken up. I should've gone with him, but no. I was being a stupid bitch and decided not to.

I felt Vanille place a hand on my shoulder. "Worried about him?"

"Um, yeah kind of..."

"Well try not to, okay? He wouldn't want you to worry about him so much." she said as she gently squeezed my shoulder, smiling at me. I smiled back at her. She always did have a way of making someone smile.

Sazh gave out a loud sigh. "Not a single soul around here and not one clue about this whole l'Cie mess."

"If we don't find anything now, there won't be another chance." said Light.

"Oerba-the place it all began." said Hope, finally awake. We all turned around to face him. "Vanille and Fang's home. Maybe...it will be the place where we find all the answers."

Fang shrugged. "Yeah. If we can get there."

"Go on without me." he said getting up.

"We can't just leave you!" Vanille said.

He shook his head. "I'll be fine, seriously. You've all taught me so much. Like how to fight and-" He tripped as Snow quickly caught him, giving him a pat on the back.

"What did I tell you? Just leave the fighting to me." said Snow.

"...I'm scared." he said with a distraught look on his face.

Lightning walked over to him and placed her and on his shoulder. "We understand. You're not going to through this ordeal alone you know."

"But that's what scares me. I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me." He said sadly, on the verge of tears. "It would be better for everyone if I just stayed behind." His brand suddenly began to shine brightly. A bright yellow light shot out from his brand. The next second, his Eidolon had appeared. It was like bigger than big. It looked like a giant walked castle. It even had the crown to go along with it. We all quickly pulled out our weapons.

"Hope, this is a gift. This is the power you've got inside you. It's telling you to not give up." Light said.

"That came..from me?" he said, looking unsure. He looked at the giant creature, then back at his brand. He pulled out his boomerang and ran straight to it, ready to fight it.

Like all Eidolons, it mainly attacks the person it came from. Luckily, Hope had our help. This was mostly his fight. The king like Eidolon no doubt was really strong. The good part though, was that he (Oh come on, it has a king's crown _and _a moustache. It's a guy.) was super slow. So, all we had to do was attack it before it could do another one of his giant slams with it's arms. Once we did that, we let Hope take the final blow. After a huge lightning bolt shocked it, it returned back into his brand.

"That was some beast you tamed there." said Sazh.

Hope smiled. "Yeah. I always that Eidolons appeared to set us free through death, but now I think they're here to snap us out of our slumps."

Light nodded. "So we're all decided then? We're going to Oerba." We all nodded in agreement.

"Don't scare us like that again Hope!" said Vanille, shaking a finger at him. "Poor Adeline! She was worried about you the whole time!" My head shot up as Vanille mentioned my name.

Hope looked at me surprised. "You were?"

"Not really." I muttered. Well actually, I was, but I don't want to admit it. I felt him come closer to me as he pulled me into a hug. Like...infront of everyone.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." he said.

"It better not.." I said, hugging him back.

"Right, let's get some sleep then. It's going to be a big day tomorrow." said Lightning.

"Sleep? Finally!" Sazh said yawning.

xxxxx

I was lying down close to the fire to stay warm. Nights on Gran Pulse could get a little chilly. I couldn't get to sleep still. I just had a lot on my mind I guess.

"Adeline? Are you still awake?" I turned my head the other way to see Hope.

"Yeah, I can't sleep." I said while getting up.

"Neither can I." he said.

"Do you just want to talk until we get sleepy?" I asked.

"Sure. But...why don't we go somewhere else? So we won't wake up everyone else." he suggested.

"Okay." He smiled at me as he held out his hand. I grabbed it as he lead the way. We finally made it to the top of a really high hill. We took a seat down on the grass. We weren't by the fire anymore, so I shivered a little bit.

He looked at me. "Cold?"

"No..I'm fine." Even though I told him that, he still decided to wrap one arm around me, pulling me closer to him. I quickly blushed. Hope never does these kinds of things. It was nice, though.

"Hope...sorry about earlier today. I know I was being a bitch to you."

"You're _not_ a bitch. But...why were you acting so...different?"

I sighed. "It's a really stupid reason...but you were spending so much time with Vanille lately and it made me kind of upset..."

He smirked. "_Oh._ I never knew you got jealous so easily."

I playfully nudged him. "I wasn't jealous..." I pouted.

He laughed. "Okay, whatever you say. I'm sorry though, but I just needed her advice on something."

I raised my eyebrows curiously. "Advice? For what?"

"Well...I've been thinking about it for a while lately, and I've always wanted to say something, but I didn't know how."

"Huh? You lost me." I said confused.

"O-okay um...look, I-I've been wanting to tell you something." He stammered.

"Okay...wait do you want to tell me then?" He was looking really nervous right now. What's up with him?

He took in a deep breath and faced me. "Well...I think..wait n-no I don't think, I know that..." he started to shake a little bit.

"You know that...?"

"I love you." He blurted out quickly. I froze. My eyes widened. Hope just said that he_ loved_ me. Not like, but_ love_. "A-and it's fine if you don't feel the same way or anything. I understand...I should probably just leave now and give you some space." He got up quickly and was about to turn around.

"Wait, Hope." I got up and grabbed his arm before he could take another step. He turned around to face me while I had a super big smile on my face. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against him. At first I was nervous. Not only because this was my first kiss, but I was afraid he wouldn't kiss back. Thankfully, I felt him kiss me back as he wrapped his arms around my waist to pull me close to him. His lips were just so...soft!

After seconds that felt like hours, we pulled away. I smiled at him and quickly kissed him again. "I love you too."

He grinned. "So does this mean you're...my girlfriend?" he asked cutely.

I giggled. "Well yeah, but only if it means you're my boyfriend."

He laughed. "Deal."

xxxxx

Umm can you say finally? Haha, I really hope you all liked this!


	16. Love In the Air

Aww I come back from my vacation and find so many amazing reviews :D Well I had a great vacation at San Francisco! Such a beautiful place to go to, I think I might just have to move there xD So school started... . I'm so sorry, I could've written so much more than I did during the summer so you'll have to excuse my laziness! And yeah it's exactly been a month since I've updated because I've been busy! I'm sooo sorry, but you know school unfortunately must came first. I think I can try updating still every 1 or two weeks? Well...that's my goal!

xxxxx

**I've Got You**

**Chapter 16: Love In the Air**

I woke up to find Hope, stillsleeping right next to me. My _boyfriend_. After we did that whole confessing-to-each-other episode, we talked, kissed a little bit more, then went to sleep. I kept replaying that moment in my head over and over again. Just thinking about it made me happier each time.

"Adeline..." I heard him mutter in his sleep. This is exactly why I love that he sleep talks. "...Love you..." Aww. I beamed and scooted closer to kiss him. He woke up quickly, as I felt him responding to my kiss, and soon wrapping his arms around me.

After a while, I pulled away. "Good morning." I said.

He smiled at me, pale green eyes barely open. "Morning...is this how you're going to wake me up everyday? I think I could get used to that."

I laughed. "I think I'll consider it."

"Is that a yes?" he asked.

"Not if you keep asking." He pouted, making me laugh again. "So, should we get back to camp right now?"

"We could...just stay here for a little longer. The sun's not completely up...so I don't think anyone's are awake yet." he said hopefully.

"Hmm, yeah you're right. I like being alone with you anyways." I said, smiling as I grabbed his hand. I frowned slightly. Hope always has his gloves on. So technically, I've been only holding his gloves...right? Well, whatever. It bothered me. I pulled my hand away, leaving Hope with a confused and somewhat hurt expression on his face.

"Take off your gloves." I commanded.

"W-what? Why?" he stammered.

"Just do it. I'm not going to hurt you or anything." He nodded obediently and took the pair of black and white gloves off. I grinned and took hold of his hand again, lacing our fingers together. I glanced at him to find his face beginning to turn noticeably red. I chuckled. "You're reeeally cute when you're nervous, you know that?" I told him.

"How can you tell when I'm nervous?"

"...You're kidding right?" I asked in a joking matter. He continued to stare at me with a blank face. He was completely clueless! "It's really obvious. First of all your face always gets red, you don't make any eye contact, you stutter when you talk, and you act all fidgety."

"I-I do?" he _stuttered_ while his face turned _even redder._

I snickered. "See? You just did it!"

"I...get nervous easily when I'm with you, but at the same time I'm perfectly comfortable around you." he admitted quietly. My smile grew wider. I softly gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You don't have to be nervous around me anymore though. Since we're...you know...dating." Saying that word out loud for the first time gave me the butterflies in my stomach. I didn't mind at all, though. "When did you start liking me?" I asked out of curiousity.

"Oh, uh well I...remember when we got into that fight?"

"I try not to...but yeah."

"Yeah...but it was around that point where I kind of started to. When we were separated for a while you were the only thing on my mind. I guess that was the time I realized how much I cared about you."

"Oh, Hope, really?" I said in that super over cheesy girly voice which got higher by every word I spoke. Ugh, I hate when I do that! I can't help it though...especially when someone as sweet as him tells me stuff like that.

"Too cheesy?" he joked.

I shook my head. "I love it when you're cheesy."

He grinned sheepishly. "Well, I love everything about you."

I smiled. Slowly, I ran my hands through his silvery hair. Like seriously, how does he get it so soft? Before I knew it, we were kissing again. His arms wrapped tightly around me while my hands were knotted in his hair. I can't really describe the way it feels when I kiss him. The only words I can think of is...freaking amazing!

"Ahem." Someone just cleared their throat. Obviously it wasn't me or Hope...since we were kind of busy. We pulled away quickly to see Snow...just standing there awkwardly infront of us.

"Hey Snow..." I said. Well, it could've been worse... What if it was Vanille? Or even worse...Fang? The only thing I can think of more horrible than that is if both of them saw us.

"Umm...I don't want to interrupt or anything, but Light wanted me to find you two."

"Oh..okay then..." 

"Yeah...well I'm going to go get the water. Want to help me out, Hope?" he asked.

"S-sure." Hope said stiffly.

"Okay...so I'll just be on my way back to camp. See you later, Hope...and Snow." I kissed Hope on the cheek really quickly and hastily walked to the campsite. I could faintly here Snow give him a pat on the back, saying "About time." ...Talk about embarassing! He just had to walk in on us kissing. Of all times it had to be at that particular time.

I finally found my way back. Everyone else was already awake. Vanille was the first one to notice my return. "Good morning, Adeline!"

"Morning, Vanille." Okay, all I'm hoping is that she doesn't ask-

"Where were you? You and Hope weren't here when we woke up." Great. Just what I wanted.

"Oh um...we woke up early and got bored so we just took a...walk!" I said. I suck at lying right on the spot. Sure, I'm pretty good if I plan out, but on the spot is something that I haven't mastered yet.

"You're not really making it sound too believable." Sazh pointed out. I shot a glare at him. Not helping!

"I think we all have a clue at what you and him were really up to." said Fang, grinning. The worst part about this...she was actually right this time. Not like I'm going to let her know that, though. What should I say? What should I say...

Lightning let out an exasperated sigh. "Enough, you guys. Just drop it." I smiled at her. She's like seriously the only one who understands what personal space is here! But...it's like what Vanille said. We're just one big l'Cie family. Family...that's a word I haven't used in a while. We really are a family, aren't we?

"Hey guys! We're back." said a loud, booming voice. It belonged to no other than Snow, of course. Hope was following right behind him. The minute I saw him, a smile spread across my face. He caught me eyes and smiled back.

"About time." said Lightning.

"So, what's the plan now, chief?" asked Fang.

"There still are a few ruins I think we should explore first. Just in case we missed something, so Oerba will have to wait until tomorrow." she replied.

"Alright, if we want to cover everything today, I say we split up." Sazh suggested.

"Fine with me."

As if it wasn't obvious who I want to go with! I walked over to Hope and slipped my hand in his. "You're definitely going with me, correct?"

He smirked. "I don't know. Yesterday I asked you if you wanted to go with me and I got rejected pretty badly."

I bit bottom lip, still feeling a little guilty about that. Hope, noticing this, squeezed my hand lightly. "Hey, don't worry about it anymore. I wasn't even really mad about it anyways." he said, making me smile again. "Besides, how could I be mad at you?" he added. If he didn't add that cute little line at the end, I would've probably waited until later to kiss him full on the lips. I know, everyone saw it, as a heard Vanille squeal. Oh, screw it. They were going to find out eventually.

"It's about time, you two!" Vanille said excitedly. "When did all this happen?"

"Since like last night when everyone was asleep." I told her.

"So, I was right this time for real, wasn't I?" said Fang.

I rolled my eyes while smiling. "I guess you could say that."

Yeah, so the whole group knew now! It wasn't as embarassing as I thought it would be, actually. Right now, it was just me and Hope walking around the springs. It was the prettiest place in Gran Pulse so far. If you stood in the right spot, you could see a rainbow form on one of the huge waterfalls. There wasn't any signs of other humans around here, so we decided to just relax for a while.

"That was quite the public display of affection you showed back there." Hope spoke up.

"...Are you okay with that?" I asked, slightly embarassed.

"Of course I am." he assured me. "I'm perfectly fine with the whole _world_ knowing that you're me girlfriend."

I grinned. How does he know exactly what to say? I hugged him tightly. "You make me happy all the time whenever I'm with you, Hope."

I felt him hug me back as he gently kissed me. "Same here, Adeline."

If only time could stop so we could stay like this forever...

xxxxx

I promise I will try to update weekly like I use to! Hope you all liked it :)


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